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| Loughborough market from above |
In this blog post I was going to write about the history of Loughborough market and fair, but during my research for information, I came across a lovely little book (1), a sort of guide to some of the market towns of England, that I just found so appealing I had to share with you before looking into the history of Loughborough market - and fair.
The book in question is basically an introduction to English market towns, and it’s rather like a guidebook. How wonderful to find our lovely town in a guidebook! The book is a Colourmaster Publication, printed in 1973, but the author does not reveal their identity, either within, or on the cover. However, in the acknowledgements, the author and publisher thank a number of people, which includes the then Market Manager for the Borough of Loughborough, M. W. Green.
Let’s take a
look at what appeared in the text.
“Ancient
Loughborough is the second largest town in Leicestershire and has been
described as the town of bells. It owes this title to John Taylor of Oxford who
came to the town to recast the bells of All Saints Church. He was so taken with
the town that he stayed, setting up his famous foundry in Cherry Orchard.”
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| The tower of Loughborough parish church |
The writer goes on to comment upon the world-wide reputation of the bells that have been cast in Loughborough, including the Great Paul bell for St Paul’s Cathedral. The church of All Saints is said to be of 14th-century structure, although much restored, with a bell tower that is 500 years old. There was at the time of the writing of the book, a small museum to the memory of Taylor, although it does not specify which Taylor.
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| Loughborough's carillon |
Of course, no
book about ‘what to see’ in Loughborough would be complete without mention of
the Carillon, the bells of which were of course made by Taylors:
“The 151 feet
high war memorial in Queen’s Park also contains one of the finest carillons in
the country. Forty-seven bells hang in there ranging in weight from over four
tons to twenty pounds. It rang for the first time in 1923 and it was from here
that the first broadcast of bell music was made.”
Without
pausing for breath, the writer continues:
“Loughborough
was also the home of John Cleveland, the so-called Cavalier Poet. His devotion
to the Stuart cause was reflected in his work in which he heaped scorn on the
Commonwealth and he was hounded by those he satirised. He died before the
Restoration but his works were avidly read for many years although now they are
little known, for his wit was topical and not enduring.”
We finally
get to a section on Loughborough’s wonderful market and fair:
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| A fairground ride at Loughborough |
“Loughborough
is eminent as a market town and much of the history of the town is reflected in
the story of its fairs and gatherings. The earliest known document relating to
Loughborough fair is dated 1221 although the market has almost certainly
existed before that time, probably from the right to hold the Thursday market
granted by Hugh Despenser in 1206.
In 1227 the
charter was a confirmation that the market was to be held on Thursdays and
likewise the fair was to be a two-day event to commence on 31st July each
year. The following year the right to hold an additional fair was granted, to
be held in November and to this day the annual November pleasure fair is held
on the second Thursday of that month.”
Some general history of the town follows:
“So the town,
prosperous and growing, continued to expand and in the years 1400 to 1600 was an
important centre for the wool trade. The Civil War left it unmarked, although
Royalists on one occasion recruited a motley army after a fiery speech from the
Market Cross. The town had passed to the Earls of Huntingdon and in 1677 there
was granted the right to hold two additional fairs in the town, ‘on the Tuesday
preceding Palm Sunday and on the second Tuesday after Easter Sunday’.
In 1742 the original cross was replaced by a new structure, known as the ‘butter and hen’
cross, which instantly evokes the picture of a bustling market place. It was
described as having a ‘slated roof supported by eight round brick pillars set
up in an octagon form’, and was topped with a sumptuous weather vane.
Additional fairs flourished, including two described in contemporary accounts
as ‘cheese meetings’. In 1829 the manorial rights in the markets and fairs were
sold to the Loughborough Local Board. The Cattle Market continued to function
in the Market Place until 1896 when it was moved to a new site. During recent
years this has been much modernised and improved. The general market, after
some years of uncertainty about its future, has been saved on its traditional
site and made a pedestrian precinct with an added bonus of more space for open
air trading. Its future as one of England’s oldest markets now seems assured.”
Background
to Loughborough markets and fairs
So, here’s a
bit of background to Loughborough’s markets and fairs. The charters for the
market and fair were granted in the reign of Henry III, who ruled between 1207
and 1272, and who during this reign granted charters to over 1,000 towns and
villages, of which Loughborough was one, and Ashby, Belton and
Waltham-on-the-Wolds some of the others.
Henry III had
become the monarch at the age of nine, thus the country was ruled by two
regents, until Henry came of age. However, Henry signed up to the Great Charter
of 1225, which was the definitive version of the Magna Carta created by King
John in 1215, and which separated out rules pertaining to forests. This charter
limited royal powers and protected some of the rights of the manorial barons.
Thus, in a royal
letter (2), Henry III granted Hugh Despenser the
right to hold a market, from 22nd January 1221 – 800 years ago! The market and
fair was to be held at Despenser’s manor in Loughborough, and the permission granted
in the royal letter was to be valid until Henry came of age. In 1227, on 12th
February, once Henry had come of age, he granted a charter to Hugh Despenser to
hold a market on a Thursday, and further confirmation was given in February
1229 and February 1233.
Loughborough’s market is therefore known as a Charter Market, and this status can only be changed by an Act of Parliament. The other type of market is a Statutory Market, one which has not been created as the result of a charter, rather being formed by an Act of Parliament.
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| The former manor house |
Hugh Despenser’s manor house was in the area of Sparrow Hill, now occupied by an Italian restaurant, inside which, beams have been dated to 1477. This area is close to the church, and the churchyard would have been the original location for market stalls – barrows, carts, as well as static furniture. Because of the regularity of the market in such a well-known area, it would have been easy for people to remember when the market was, and for them to meet here to trade their goods. There would also have been plenty of witnesses, should anything go wrong!
It had been known for events to get a bit out of hand during these markets, and occasions when people set up stalls without permission, so in 1285, Edward I passed a law that stopped the holdings of markets and fairs in churchyards.
In August
2020, the inhabitants of Sileby set up a few market-type stalls in the car park
at the Free Trade Inn. This sparked a whole debate about charter markets, the
area around them that were protected by such a charter (in Loughborough’s case
this was a radius of six and two-third miles) and competition, which reached
the national
news.
This wasn’t
the first battle over the rights to hold a market, for in 1239, the town of
Leicester claimed that its market trade was being damaged and put under threat
by a Tuesday market that had been installed in nearby Narborough. Both markets
had been in fact been going for quite some time. Narborough’s market day had changed
in 1220 from a Thursday to a Tuesday, so perhaps this change of day was the concern
in Leicester, although why this was raised as an issue nineteen years later, I
cannot say.
Loughborough
fair
Although
today we think of fairs as being fun places, full of whizzy rides, bright
lights, amusement, and food stalls, all to the cacophony of music, sirens and
people screaming, fairs haven’t always been all about fun and games, but were
once very important trading places.
Originally,
the terms ‘market’ and ‘fair’ were used interchangeably, as charter fairs were
essentially markets. The main differences between the market and the fair were
that markets were held either daily or weekly, while fairs were usually an annual
event associated with the feast day of a specific saint, and while markets traded
in fresh produce and necessities, fairs traded in higher value, non-perishable
goods, like homewares, pottery, furniture, and farm tools.
The word fair
comes from the Latin word ‘feria’, which means holiday, and as early fairs often
began on the feast days of a saint, people would go to church in the morning,
and then the fun of the holiday would begin after this. Amusements may have
been provided by acrobats, fire-eaters, jugglers, and minstrels. Shops closed,
but their proprietors were able to trade at the fairground.
Like markets,
fairs could only operate if granted a charter, and there were close to 5,000
such charters granted in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Of these,
most villages, towns and cities that were granted permission could hold only one
fair per year, which probably lasted for just a few days. Some of the more important
fairs were held at Winchester, Stourbridge, Bartholomew in London, and St Ives
in Cambridgeshire (although at the origination of the fair, there was no town
of St Ives: the town grew up there because of the fair).
Also like
markets, fairs could operate if allowed so to do by an Act of Parliament. These
fairs were called hiring fairs, statute fairs, or mop fairs, and were conceived
from about the mid-1300s, when there was a shortage of workers, probably in
part due to the black death. Later, around the mid-1500s, it became the custom
for rates of pay for workers to be fixed on a specific day each year, which
would hold true for the coming year, and be re-set the next year. So, workers
were employed for a year, and then had to seek employment at the end of that
year. Because so many people congregated at the annual fair, this became a good
opportunity for workers and employers to seek each other out. People looking
for work would often carry with them some visual indication of their trade: perhaps
a shepherd would carry a crook, a housemaid a mop, hence the term ‘mop’ fair.
So, what of
Loughborough fair?
The background to Loughborough fair is almost identical to that of its market. In a royal letter (3), Henry III granted Hugh Despenser the right to hold a fair, from 22nd January 1221 – 800 years ago! On 12th February 1227, once the king had come of age, he specified that the fair be held on the eve or day before the feast of St Peter. A further letter was sent to Despencer in April 1227, and again confirmed in February 1229 and February 1233.
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| One of the rides on the Granby Street car park |
For many years, the event always began on the second Thursday in November, but a few years ago this was extended, and now begins on the second Wednesday of November. The fair is opened at an official ceremony, when the current mayor reads out the charter, and there are usually many dignitaries in attendance.
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| Dignitaries at the opening ceremony |
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| Remembrance parade through town, 2007 |
The year 1978
In October 1978 I arrived in Loughborough, the place that was to be my home for the next three years, but which has turned out to still be my home 42 years later!! Some friends and I went down to the fair the next month, excited to see what was on offer.
In truth, I'd grown up with fairs, because the small town in which I had been brought up held a fair each May on the common: my house was beside the common and the dodgems were right in front of my house! Not only that, the town where my parents had been brought up, and where my grandparents lived also had an annual fair in May, although this was on what was now a large car park, but it was somewhere we visited most years.
Although I was excited to visit Loughborough, I have to say this excitement was tempered a bit by an experience I'd had only a couple of months before at the fair on Harrogate Stray, when I'd been persuaded to go on the waltzers. Hanging on for dear life, and practically falling off with dizziness, I realised why I'd never been on them before, and that sealed my relationship with fairground rides: great to look at, but not ever to be ridden on!
Anyway, in November 1978, we trooped into the town centre from the Forest Road direction and ended up at the start of the fair in Bedford Square, where there was a stallholder just standing there, without a stall, offering to guess people's ages. Well, my friends thought it would be a sure-fire bet that he'd never be able to work out my age, and they'd win the wager. I suspect their optimism had something to do with the fact that at the age of 18, I was still under five feet tall, and had something of a young-looking face. Needless to say, their naivety was not rewarded when the chap estimated I was 17!
The year 1979
By November 1979 I had been living in Loughborough for a year, and so this was the second time I visited the fair. Again, I went with friends on the Friday evening, and although we all had a great time, I was nursing a sore throat. By Sunday evening I was decided poorly, and on the Monday I was diagnosed with some dreaded lurgy, more than just the cold I thought I had. It took a couple of weeks to recover, although ever since then I have needed more sleep than I did before!
The year 2020
During the
year 2020, a year in which the country saw itself in various stages of lockdown due to a pandemic, the bustling market of previous years, with its stalls stretching
from Devonshire Square down to Swan Street, partly along Market Street, and
four layers in the market place, has been severely reduced in size, and now only
presents a few stalls on Cattle Market, with two rows in the market place, and the approach to the various stalls is
controlled by barriers.
The fair, one
of the main highlights of the year, was not able to come to Loughborough in
2020.
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| A view of the new market layout. The Fearon Fountain celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2020 |
The year
2021
As mentioned above, permission to hold both a market and the fair was granted in 1221, making the year 2021 the 800th anniversary of both, a milestone that was to be celebrated in many different ways across the town. As at the moment the country is still in a lockdown situation, some of these celebratory events may not be able to take place, but we can rest assured that something will happen at some point!
It is to be hoped that the sentiment expressed in that guidebook quoted above, in relation to the market, still applies to the market, and applies also to the fair such that "Its future as one of England’s oldest markets now seems assured.” It simply wouldn't be Loughborough without its markets and fair.
(1)
Read about English Market Towns. Colourmaster International, 1973.
(2) Such a letter was a letter of instruction and was folded and sealed, securing the contents until opened by the recipient. Hugh Despenser was given permission to hold a market and fair in this way because an under-age monarch was not able to grant charters.
(3) This may have been included in the same letter as that which granted the right to hold the market to Hugh Despenser, or it might have been a separate communication?
You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:
Lynne
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