Thursday, October 04, 2007

Goose Fair Nottingham

I went to Goose Fair today after 3 years with my daughter, there were times when everyone one of us in the family used to go all 3 days, but those were the days.....................!
Here's some history of Goose Fair.
***
With more than 700 years of history, Nottingham Goose Fair is one of Europe's most famous travelling fairs, and is still a fantastic event to delight all ages. Over 500 attractions await fair-goers, from the latest white knuckle experiences, family rides and favourites including waltzers, carousels and Hook-a-Duck.No one knows where Goose Fair got its name. Legend has it that it comes from the hundreds of geese, which were at one time driven from Lincolnshire and Norfolk to be sold in Nottingham. This may seem far fetched but it could well be true because the fair is held at the time of year when geese are in their prime and roast goose was for centuries a traditional Michaelmas treat.
But just think of the logistics of driving 20,000 or so of them on foot from the fens of Lincolnshire or Cambridgeshire, or even Norfolk! Apparently the trick was to coat the birds' feet with a mixture of tar and sand to protect them on the long journey. The drovers themselves did not have such luxuries and no doubt had the blisters to prove it.
Goose Fair was first mentioned in the Nottingham Borough Records of 1541. There, in the Chamberlain's accounts, is a reference to an allowance of Is 10d for 22 stalls taken by the city's two Sheriffs on Goose Fair Day. In the following year, John Trussell, the Steward of The Willoughby family at nearby Wollaton entered in his books an item of eight pence for the purchase of two pairs of traces at Goose Fair.
The King's CharterNo one knows how many centuries the fair existed before these references were made. The Charter of King Edward I, the first charter to refer to the city fairs, makes it clear that a fair on the Feast of St. Matthew was already established in Nottingham in 1284. It is possible this occasion has come down through the ages to be today's Goose Fair particularly as, until 1752, it was always held on St. Matthew's Day (September 21). On that day there was worship at what was then the tiny church of St. Mary.
The Danes had a settlement in Nottingham and it is very likely they established a market. As markets and fairs are known to have common origins, they may well have also held a fair. So, it is just possible that Goose Fair could have its roots in an event which occurred more than a thousand years ago. When the calendar was revised in 1752, omitting 11 days from September, the date of Goose Fair was switched to October 2 and this remained the starting date until 1875. The year of the calendar change was one of the few occasions Goose Fair was not held. The plague caused another cancellation in 1646 and it was put on ice during the two World Wars this century.
Smells of the FairPicture the scene at the Nottingham Goose Fair hundreds of years ago. The pungent smells and smoke of cookeries are rising above the Great Market Place (Old Market Square), with its sprawl of makeshift stalls and produce, and goods scattered all over the ground, against a backcloth of the Castle and St. Peter's Church, plainly visible because there are no towering buildings to obscure them.
Most of the food on offer is produced locally, much of it in the Vale of Belvoir or Trent Valley, for this is the age of the horse, with poor roads where they exist at all.
Cheese!Like all other fairs, the original purpose of Nottingham's autumn fair was trade and for many years it enjoyed a reputation for, of all things, its cheese! However, every fair contained some element of merry-making and it is very likely that from a very early date there were shows to amuse the crowds.During the nineteenth century, the character of Goose Fair changed considerably. With the coming of the railways, transport became easier and people no longer had to stock up with goods in the autumn against the risk of isolation during the dark days of winter.
Distribution and retailing also improved with shops stocking items all the year round which previously had only been available once a year from travelling merchants at fairs.
Ban on Merry-go-rounds!Gradually, more and more Nottingham folk began to look upon Goose Fair as just an excuse for a good time. However, Merry-Go-Rounds, referred to in a description of Bartholomew Fair in 1729, did not make an appearance in Nottingham until a hundred years later when they were promptly banned by the Town Council!
Some people also began to question the need to continue Goose Fair, they considered in particular that eight days was much too long for what had become a largely pleasure festival. So, in 1876 it was reduced to five days and, four years later, to three. However, these changes coincided with the introduction of more sophisticated roundabouts and amusement devices. Steam and, later on, electricity played an enormous part in their development.
By the turn of the century Goose Fair was already well on its way to becoming something of a national institution. For centuries, Goose Fair was held in the heart of the city on the Great Market Place in front of the Exchange. It gradually spread to other streets in the vicinity and, with the growth of traffic, there were complaints about congestion and disruption to the day to day life of the city.
However, all suggestions that it should be restricted even further or moved to a new site were rejected until the 1920s when the City Council decided to replace the Exchange and the Shambles to the rear with a new civic building, the Council House, and shops. More important, at least so far as the future of the fair was concerned, the civic authorities also thought the existing market place provided an inappropriate setting for such a grand new building.
So, the area was re-designed and in the new scheme of things there was no place for Goose Fair. On the Sunday evening before the last Fair in the Market Place, a public meeting of 12,000 people was held in the Square to protest about the move. Speakers included Pat Collins, President of the Showman's Guild, and a resolution was passed objecting to the move. Despite this public outcry, the Council stood firm and a new site was found in 1928.
In 1990, only the Snake Girl, boxing ring and Mouse Town were left from the tradtional rides. Today, Goose Fair is held on the Forest Recreation Ground, a mile or so to the north of the Old Market Square.
Thousands of people, from beggars and pickpockets to wealthy tradesmen looking for new stocks are crowded into the square, occupying roughly the same area as today but looking larger because the doorways of houses and shops lead directly on to it - there are no pavements or roads. There is a cacophony of noise as the shouts of tradesmen and farmers advertising their wares complete with the moos, bleats and cackle of farm stock and the chants and songs of minstrels and other entertainers.Jugglers, tumblers, dancers and men on stilts are performing wherever they can find the space. Freak animals - a five-footed sheep, a two-headed horse - are on show for a small entrance fee.
Some landmark dates:
1855 - The first big roundabout, Twigdon's Riding Machine, turned by hand, comes to the fair.
1877 - Wombwell's Menageries (see original poster, left) had 20 monster carriages, 57 great cart horses, 7,009 birds and animals and 53 employees
1888 - Professor Baldwin, the aeronaut, made the first parachute jump in Nottingham, from a balloon over Wollaton Park as part of the Goose Fair attractions. World champion trick cyclist W. G. Hurst did 50 tricks on a Beeston Humber bike
1892 - Professor England's Royal Exhibition of Performing Fleas .
Opening Times: Date: Times:
Wednesday 3 October
5.30 pm - 11.00 pm
Thursday 4 October
12 noon - 11.00 pm
Friday 5 October
11.00 am - 11.30 pm
Saturday 6 October
11.00 am - 11.00 pm
Location:Goose Fair is situated on the Forest Recreation Ground on the outskirts of Nottingham City Centre just off Mansfield Road (A60).The site is 11 miles from Junction 24, 9 miles from Junction 25 and 5 miles from Junction 26 of the M1 motorway.