*Ø* Blogmanac September 3 | Bartholomew Fair
The Bartholomew Fair lasted for four days. It opened annually at Smithfield, England each St Bartholomew's Day (August 24) from 1133 to 1752, then after the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, opened on September 3, except where this was a Sunday. It was removed to Islington in 1840, and last held in 1855.
One of the great national fairs dealing in cloth, livestock, etc., accompanied by a variety of amusements and entertainments it long held its place as a centre of London life. The Puritans failed to suppress it. Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, a comedy of manners, was first acted in 1614.
Started by grant of Henry II, it was held on the eve, the day, and the day after St Bartholomew's. The proclamation of the fair on this day was attended with pomp and ceremony. It was read at the gate leading into Cloth-fair by the Lord Mayor of London's attorney, followed by a procession that marched around Smithfield then returned to the Mansion-house where all the dignitaries dined. Sideshows displayed such people as ‘The Wild Indian Woman and Child’, ‘The largest child in the Kingdom’ and ‘The female dwarf, Two Feet, Eleven Inches high’, as well as exotic animals, such as elephants, tigers and ‘the giant emew, fom Brazil’.
Many locals of Smithfield were opposed to the fair because of the noise and debauchery; as early as July 10, 1750, a petition was put to the Lord Mayor to close it down.
"No person of respectability now visits it, but as a curious spectator of an annual congregation of ignorance and depravity." (19th-century folklorist Hone)
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The Bartholomew Fair lasted for four days. It opened annually at Smithfield, England each St Bartholomew's Day (August 24) from 1133 to 1752, then after the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, opened on September 3, except where this was a Sunday. It was removed to Islington in 1840, and last held in 1855.
One of the great national fairs dealing in cloth, livestock, etc., accompanied by a variety of amusements and entertainments it long held its place as a centre of London life. The Puritans failed to suppress it. Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, a comedy of manners, was first acted in 1614.
Started by grant of Henry II, it was held on the eve, the day, and the day after St Bartholomew's. The proclamation of the fair on this day was attended with pomp and ceremony. It was read at the gate leading into Cloth-fair by the Lord Mayor of London's attorney, followed by a procession that marched around Smithfield then returned to the Mansion-house where all the dignitaries dined. Sideshows displayed such people as ‘The Wild Indian Woman and Child’, ‘The largest child in the Kingdom’ and ‘The female dwarf, Two Feet, Eleven Inches high’, as well as exotic animals, such as elephants, tigers and ‘the giant emew, fom Brazil’.
Many locals of Smithfield were opposed to the fair because of the noise and debauchery; as early as July 10, 1750, a petition was put to the Lord Mayor to close it down.
"No person of respectability now visits it, but as a curious spectator of an annual congregation of ignorance and depravity." (19th-century folklorist Hone)
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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