Fairs, past and present

by Cornelius Walford

But all this is still out done, at least in show, by two Articles, which are the peculiars of this Fair, and do not begin till the other part of the Fair, that is to say for the Woolen Manufacture begins to draw to a Close; these are Wooll, and the Hops, as for the Hops there is scarce any Price fix’d for Hops in England, till they know how they sell at Sturbridge Fair; the Quantity that appears in the Fair is indeed prodigious, and they, as it were, possess a large Part of the Field on which the Fair is kept, to themselves; they are brought directly from Chelmsford in Essex, from Canterbury and Maidstone in Kent, and from Farnham in Surrey, besides what are brought from London, the growth of those, and other places.

Enquiring why this Fair should be thus, of all other Places in England, the Center of that Trade; and so great a Quantity of so Bulky a Commodity be carry’d thither so far: I was answer’d by one thoroughly acquainted with that matter, thus: The Hops, said he, for this part of England, grow principally in the two counties of Surrey and Kent, with an exception only of the town of Chelmsford in Essex, and there are very few planted anywhere else.

... I must not omit here also to mention, that the River Grant, or Cam, which runs close by the N.W. side of the Fair in its way from Cambridge to Ely, is Navigable, and that by this means, all heavy Goods are brought even to the Fair-Field, by Water Carriage from London, and other Parts, first to the Port of Lynn, and then in Barges up the Ouse, from the Ouse into the Cam, and so, as I say to the very Edge of the Fair.

In like manner great Quantities of heavy Goods, and the Hops among the rest, are sent from the Fair to Lynn by Water, and shipped there for the Humber, to Hull, York, &c., and for New Castle upon Tyne, and by New Castle, even to Scotland itself. Now as there is still no planting of Hops in the North, tho’ a great Consumption, and the Consumption increasing Daily, this, says my Friend, is one reason why at Sturbridge Fair there is so great a Demand for the Hops: He added, that besides this, there were very few Hops, if any worth naming, growing in all the Counties even on this side Trent, which were above forty miles from London; these Counties depending on Sturbridge Fair for their supply, so the Counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northampton, Lincoln, Leicester, Rutland, and even to Stafford, Warwick, and Worcestershire, bought most if not all their Hops at Sturbridge Fair.

These are the Reasons why so great a Quantity of Hops are seen at this Fair, as that it is incredible, considering too, how remote from this Fair the Growth of them is, as above.

This is likewise a testimony of the prodigious Resort of the Trading people of all Parts of England to this Fair; the Quantity of Hops that have been sold at one of these Fairs is diversley reported, and some affirm it to be so great, that I dare not copy after them; but without doubt it is a surprising Account, especially in a cheap Year.

The next Article brought hither, is Wool, and this of several sorts, but principally Fleece Wool, out of Lincolnshire, where the longest Staple is found; the sheep of those Countries being of the largest Breed.

The Buyers of this Wool, are chiefly indeed the Manufacturers of Norfolk and Suffolk and Essex, and it is a prodigious Quantity they buy.

Here I saw what I have not observ’d in any other county of England, namely, a Pocket of Wool.

This seems to be first call’d so in Mockery, this Pocket being so big, that it loads a whole Waggon, and reaches beyond the most extream Parts of it, hanging over both before and behind, and these ordinarily weigh a Ton or 25 Hundred weight of Wool, all in one Bag.