“The Magic of the Fair”(A Brief History of Fairs & Goose Fair)
April 2002 Meeting Report
Guest Speaker - Kenneth Kirk
The April meeting of the Keyworth & District Local History Society was held in front of a slightly smaller audience than usual in the Centenary Lounge on 5 April 2002. Kenneth Kirk gave the Society a talk/ slide show/ cine film presentation on “The Magic of the Fair”. The presentation began with a brief history of fairs in general and their origins. Fairs date back; we were told, to Roman times at the very least, possibly considerably earlier. Nottingham’s own Goose Fair can trace its origins to Saxon times, around 800A.D. when Nottingham was known as Snottingham, (Snot being a Saxon word for cave-dweller, a reference to the many sandstone caves that then, as now, are to be found all over the city). Fairs in the Saxon and medieval times were more in the nature of markets for trade rather than places of amusement. They also needed to be sanctioned by Royal Assent or by Church permission.
In 1284 A.D. Edward I granted a Royal Charter for a fair to be held in Nottingham from 21 September and to last for 15 days. The fair was called St Matthews Fair and was held at the same time as a fair in Lenton, which was sanctioned by Lenton Priory. The two fairs ran in tandem for over one hundred years without any apparent detriment to either. By this time there were about eight different fairs, which were held annually in and around Nottingham. The fair at Ilkeston had been granted a charter as early as 1256 A.D. The fairs were organisation of the stalls at each fair were the responsibility of a Tobermaster and he must have been a busy man as the fair in Nottingham was quite substantial. The various fairs up and down the country were known for the different items that they specialised in. Nottingham was famous as a place to buy and sell cheese, lace, stockings, poultry and the hire of labour. People came from miles around to visit the fair, there were even instances of people walking from as far away as Norfolk to visit the fair in Nottingham. When you imagine that the journey would take anything up to a week to complete then the Fair must have been something quite exceptional to attract visitors from so far away. It became apparent at an early stage that with so many visitors to the city the opportunities for making money from entertaining such large crowds of people was a chance not to be missed. Thus the clowns and roustabouts made their debut and the stage was set for the fair to gradually transform from mainly trade to mainly entertainment.
Surprisingly, the first reference to the Nottingham Goose Fair by that name was not until 1564. It is by that name that the Fair is now so well known the length and breadth of the country. In 1764 the duration of the fair was reduced to eight days in order to maintain public order more easily. This came about in part as a result of public riots at the fair when traders tried to increase the price of cheese from 20/- per cwt to 30/- per cwt. A further reduction in the Fair’s duration occurred in 1750 when the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar took 11 days out of September that year and as these were days when the Fair should have been held it was decided to start the Fair on the first Thursday in October and for it to last three days. It was in this format that the Fair was to be held until the present day.
One of the more staggering features of the Fair is the time that it takes to erect and dismantle. When the Fair was held in the Market Square it had to close by midnight on Saturday and the Square needed to be completely clear by 8.00am in order that Religious Meetings could take place on the following Sunday morning. It must have been one of the great disappearing acts of the day the way in which the Fair evaporated into thin air every Sunday morning. (It is surprising, given the fairground entrepreneurs eye to making money that no one ever thought to try and turn this disappearing act into a moneymaking attraction!).
After the historical talk the audience was entertained with various colour slides showing the different fairground attractions, including the rides, traction engines, fairground organs etc. Two of the attractions were particularly memorable; the Twigdons Sea on Dry Land ride, (where you could ride in a yacht which mechanically replicated the motion of the sea), and the Wall of Death ride featuring a full grown lion being carried in the passenger seat of a specially modified car as it whirled around the vertical sides of the famous ride. After the slides there was a compilation of cine films, which Mr Kirke had taken of various fairs about thirty years ago. Overall the talk was quite interesting and the audience enjoyed quite a nostalgic evening.