The Westbury Hill Fair, or Westbury Hill Sheep Fair, was an annual
fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
which took place on the first Tuesday in September on high ground at
Westbury, Wiltshire
Westbury is a town and civil parish in the west of the English county of Wiltshire, below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster. Originally a market town, Westbury was kn ...
, England, near the north-western corner of
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
. The main business was the sale of sheep. The fair was well-established by the mid 19th century and had come to an end by 1942.
History
The origins of the Westbury Hill Fair are uncertain, but according to one source a bequest was made in 1775 to provide a
guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
once a year to pay for a sermon to warn the young people of the nearby village of
Bratton against the dangers of the Hill Fair. This is evidence that by then an annual fair already existed in some form.
[Cathy Sedgwick]
Flockmasters and shepherds of Bratton
at wiltshire-opc.org.uk, accessed 8 January 2018
In all the records of it, the chief business at the fair was the sale of sheep, and as with all country fairs there were also other entertainments and goods for sale. The site of the fair was
downland
Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...
near the
Westbury White Horse
Westbury or Bratton White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain, approximately east of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. Located on the edge of Bratton Downs and lying just below an Iron Age hill fort, it is the oldest ...
, known as Westbury Hill,
[ a slow uphill climb if coming up from the town below, or a long journey if travelling across ]Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
. The breeds of sheep traded included the Hampshire Down, the Southdown, and in earlier days the Wiltshire Horn
The Wiltshire Horn is a breed of domestic sheep originally from Wiltshire in southern England raised for meat.
The breed is unusual among native British breeds, for it has the unusual feature of moulting its short wool and hair coat naturall ...
. In its heyday, the fair rivalled a similar sheep fair held at Wilton. The fair at Westbury benefited from the opening in 1853 of the Westbury station on the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway
The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) was an early railway company in south-western England. It obtained Parliamentary powers in 1845 to build a railway from near Chippenham in Wiltshire, southward to Salisbury and Weymouth in Dorse ...
, and as Westbury became established as the junction of the Reading to Taunton line
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...
with what is now the Wessex Main Line
The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth. The Wessex Main Line intersects the Reading to Taunton Line at and th ...
, its transport links improved. However, the Wilton sheep fair also grew during the 19th century, with 40,000 sheep reported from there in 1883, a figure rising to some 95,000 in 1901.
Notice was given of a Westbury Hill Sheep Fair in September in the '' Salisbury and Winchester Journal'' of 20 August 1853. In September 1862 the owner of the Westbury Hill Fair gave a silver tankard (''pictured'') to the buyer of the largest number of sheep. On 11 September 1868 ''The Welshman
''Y Cymro – The Welshman'' is a named passenger train of the Great Western Railway (train operating company), Great Western Railway running between and .
''The Welshman'' was a named passenger train of the London, Midland and Scottish Ra ...
'' reported that "This week several important fairs and markets have been held, and from each and all the report is a very dull trade, at barely the recently improved rates. Thus at Westbury-hill fair there was a very large supply of sheep – the largest ever known but the trade was heavy, and a clearance could not be made."
In the 1870s the fair was reported as a large annual event and was held on the first Tuesday in September. In September 1872 the ''Salisbury and Winchester Journal'' reported the sale of good lambs and ewes from Imber
Imber is an uninhabited village within the British Army's training area on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It lies in an isolated area of the Plain, about west of the A360 road between Tilshead and West Lavington. A linear village, its ...
, Norton Bavant
Norton Bavant is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, southeast of Warminster.
Geography
The village is on the River Wylye and at the edge of Salisbury Plain. To the north lies Scratchbury and Cotley Hills Site of Special S ...
, Knook, Chitterne
Chitterne is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, in the south west of England. The village lies in the middle of Salisbury Plain, about east of the town of Warminster.
The Chitterne Brook, a small tributary of the River Wylye ...
, Heytesbury
Heytesbury is a village (formerly considered to be a town) and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village lies on the north bank of the Wylye, about southeast of the town of Warminster.
The civil parish includes most of the small neigh ...
, and Sutton Veny
Sutton Veny is a village and civil parish in the Wylye valley, to the southeast of the town of Warminster in Wiltshire, England; the village is about from Warminster town centre. 'Sutton' means 'south farmstead' in relation to Norton Bavant, on ...
, with "most of the primest of the ram Iambs making 6 guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
s each". In 1882 applications for entry to the Westbury Hill Sheep Fair were to be made to Mr. W. Beaven at Pound Farm, Westbury.
In 1890, the '' Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette'' noted that the fair was shrinking in size and reported that "trade was dull and slow", but Mr Justice Lopes had done well in making thirty shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s each for a hundred mixed lambs. By the end of the 19th century, it was noticed that the fair caused low attendance at local schools, including that at nearby Dilton Marsh
Dilton Marsh is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the far west of the county of Wiltshire, in the southwest of England. The village is about southwest of the centre of the town of Westbury, Wiltshire, Westbury; Dilton Mar ...
.
Twentieth century decline
In the early 20th century, the fair continued to decline, with only some 20,000 sheep passing through it every year. In 1912 a notice for the fair appeared in the ''London Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'', announcing "Westbury Hill Fair: Pedigree Hampshire Down Sheep a Speciality".
On 6 September 1924, a local newspaper reported “Successful Hill Fair. — Westbury Hill Fair was held in ideal weather on Tuesday, and attracted not only a large company of farmers and dealers but also a large number of the fair sex and children.” At this time, sheep were commonly sold on a handshake, with the price to be paid later. Horses were also traded, with some being sent from Ireland by boat and train, to be walked up the hill from Westbury railway station. Some local schools were closed on the day of the fair. Gypsies camped for the summer at Beggar’s Knoll to work on the hill farms and came to the fair to sell clothes pegs and paper flowers. Dealers came for the day to sell crockery, cutlery, and other wares.
In 1939, one of the auctioneers for the Fair, held on 5 September, was Dart & Son of Warminster
Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...
. In 1940, in the early months of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Land Utilisation Survey noted that "Westbury's Sheep Fair today handles less than 10,000 sheep". That year’s Fair took place on 3 September 1940, and another of the firms of auctioneers, Lavington & Hooper, advertised a few days before that 1,650 Hampshire Downs had been entered with them for sale. In 1941, the same auctioneers advertised their sale at the Fair to start at 8:30 am on 2 September, with 1,275 Hampshire Down and cross-bred Ewes and Lambs having been entered by 16 August. A retrospective in the ''Wiltshire Times
The ''Wiltshire Times'' is a weekly newspaper published in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in South West England. The paper serves the western Wiltshire towns of Bradford on Avon, Trowbridge, Corsham, Chippenham, Warminster, Westbury and Melksham, and thei ...
'' of 29 August 1942 noted that After that, no traces of the fair being held have been found.[Searches of the ''British Newspaper Archive'' find no mention of the fair after 1942, as at 6 March 2021.]
Notes
{{reflist
Agricultural shows in England
History of Wiltshire
Westbury, Wiltshire