Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely

by John William Edward Conybeare

The Lepers' Chapel, Barnwell.

Pursuing the Newmarket Road, we find (at the point where it at last ceases to be a Barnwell Street, and crosses the railway into the open country beyond), yet another tiny ancient church, called traditionally the "Lepers' Chapel." It is of Norman date, and probably served the Lepers' Hospital, which we know to have existed hereabouts, as remote as might be from the town. This hospital was endowed by King John with the tolls of the great Fair held hard by on Stourbridge Common, which even so late as the Eighteenth Century boasted itself the largest and most important in all Europe, a position now claimed by that of Nijni Novgorod in Russia. And, to judge by the accounts that have come down to us, the boast was not unfounded. The Cambridgeshire historian, Carter, writing in 1753, thus describes it:

"Stourbridge Fair ... is set out annually on St. Bartholomew by the Mayor, Aldermen, and the rest of the Corporation of Cambridge; who all ride thither in a grand procession, with music playing before them, and most of the boys in the town on horseback after them, who, as soon as the ceremony is read over, ride races about the place; when returning to Cambridge each boy has a cake and some ale at the Town Hall. On the 7th of September they ride in the same manner to proclaim it; which being done, the Fair begins, and continues three weeks; though the greatest part is over in a fortnight.

"This Fair, which was thought some years ago to be the greatest in Europe, is kept in a cornfield, about half a mile square, having the River Cam running on the north side thereof, and the rivulet called the Stour (from which and the bridge over it the Fair received its name) on the east side, and it is about two miles east of Cambridge market-place; where, during the Fair, coaches, chaises, and chariots attend to carry persons to the Fair. The chief diversions at Stourbridge are drolls, rope-dancing, and sometimes a music-booth; but there is an Act of Parliament which prohibits the acting of plays within fifteen miles of Cambridge.

"If the field (on which the Fair is kept) is not cleared of the corn by the 24th of August, the builders may trample it under foot to build their booths; and, on the other hand, if the same be not cleared of the booths and material belonging thereto by Michaelmas Day at noon, the plough-men may enter the same with their horses, ploughs, and carts, and destroy whatever they find on the premises. The filth, dung, straw, etc., left behind by the fair-keepers, make amends for their trampling and hardening of the ground.

"The shops or booths are built in rows like streets, having each their name, as Garlick Row, Booksellers'-row, Cook-row, etc. And every commodity has its proper place, as the Cheese Fair, Hop Fair, Wool Fair, etc.; and here, as in several other streets or rows, are all sorts of traders, who sell by wholesale or retail, as goldsmiths, toy-men, brasiers, turners, milliners, haberdashers, hatters, mercers, drapers, pewterers, china warehouses, and, in a word, most trades that can be found in London, from whence many of them come. Here are also taverns, coffee-houses, and eating-houses in great plenty, and all kept in booths, in any of which (except the coffee-booth) you may at any time be accommodated with hot or cold roast goose, roast or boiled pork, etc.

"Crossing the main road at the south end of Garlick Row, and a little to the left hand, is a great Square, formed of the largest booths, called the Duddery, the area of which Square is from 240 to 300 feet, chiefly taken up with woollen drapers, wholesale tailors, and sellers of second-hand clothes; where the dealers have room before their booths to take down and open their packs, and bring in waggons to load and unload the same. In the centre of this Square was (till within these three years) erected a tall May-pole, with a vane at the top; and in this Square, on the two chief Sundays during the fair, both forenoon and afternoon, Divine Service is read, and a sermon preached from a pulpit placed in the open air, by the Minister of Barnwell; who is very well paid for the same by the contribution of the fair-keepers.

"In this Duddery only, it is said, there have been sold £100,000 worth of woollen manufactures in less than a week's time; besides the prodigious trade carried on here, by the wholesale tailors from London, and most other parts of England, who transact their business wholly in their pocket-books, and meeting here their chapmen from all parts, make up their accounts, receive money chiefly in bills, and take further orders. These, they say, exceed by far the sale of goods actually brought to the Fair, and delivered in kind; it being frequent for the London wholesale men to carry back orders from their dealers for £10,000 worth of goods a man, and some much more. And once in this Duddery, it is said, there was a booth consisting of six apartments, all belonging to a dealer in Norwich stuffs only, who had there above £20,000 worth of those goods.