IN Victorian and Edwardian times, one of the most popular events on Worcester’s social calendar used to be the annual hop and cheese fair. Traditionally held in the autumn after the harvest had been safely gathered in, it was in many ways a rather supercharged harvest festival.
For not only was the city centre packed with stalls selling prime produce, cakes and confectionary, but at the cattle market at the bottom of The Butts sheep and horses came under the auctioneer’s hammer and the streets, especially from The Cross down towards the river, were lined with fairground attractions.
Unhindered by any ability to stay at home and watch TV, village folk would flock to Worcester. From very early morning all roads into the city were packed with people walking with baskets on their arms and farmers and country gentlemen riding on horseback or in gigs and carriages with their wives and children.
There were also many carriers’ wagons – open-topped horse drawn carts that served as country buses – jammed with women, children, men and dogs and laden with produce to be sold at the fair.
The result was a day of largely good-humoured pandemonium, which was generally tolerated by the city authorities on the basis that tomorrow was another day and everyone would have gone home.
By midday, The Cross, High Street, Broad Street, Angel Street and Angel Place were packed with a dense throng which had celebrated well in the inns and alehouses. A rather quaint description of one fair said: “People were singing and shouting, chaffing and jostling, with pea-shooters, back-scratchers, squibs and fire crackers and generally making merry in a boisterous old fashioned style.”
The crowds were so great it was difficult to move about and in 1860 this led to a super jape that rather backfired. To thin the multitudes, two lads bought some hay and straw and set fire to it in Quay Street. As the smoke spiralled upwards, they yelled “FIRE” and promptly the streets emptied.
However, the owners of the rifle galleries and gingerbread stalls lining The Cross were none too pleased at seeing their trade evaporate. Neither was the Norwich Union, which rushed its horse-drawn fire engine to the scene only to find a pile of straw alight. So it made enquiries, identified the culprits and sent them the bill.
The fair originated in a Royal statute of 1554 and enjoyed its hey-day at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. By 1920 it had begun to decline and by the 1940s was a thing of the past. Over the years there have been several attempts at revivals, but the world had changed and, like pea shooters and back-scratchers, it’s now a bit out of fashion.
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