By Richard Bryant and John Mills
Each summer a fair arrives on Lindfield Common reflecting a tradition that has featured in village life for centuries. In medieval times Lindfield was a thriving small town. To maintain its importance and prosperity, in 1343 the Canons of South Malling, the Lords of the Manor, applied to Edward III for permission to hold fairs and a market. The King granted a Royal Charter allowing a market to be held every Thursday and two annual eight-day fairs to be held on 1st May, the Feast Day of Saint Philip and St James, and 25th July, the Feast Day of St James the Great. A charter for an eight-day fair was a significant privilege as they were usually for three or five days.
The first Lindfield Fairs were held in 1344, the Spring Fair probably for sheep and cattle with lambs featuring at the Summer Fair. The charter required them to be held ‘at the town’. Little is known of the fairs in medieval time but fairs across the country were similar events with records showing the trading of animals, the opportunity to buy a wide range of goods not available in the market or local shops. Itinerant traders travelled from fair to fair, less welcome were the rogue traders, pick-pockets and other ne’er-do-wells that such events attracted.
Image kindly provided by Elizabeth Wickstead
Fairs also gave locals the chance to make merry with entertainment provided by travelling minstrels. The Lindfield Fairs continued through the centuries but little information is known until the arrival of local newspapers in the early 1800s; by this time their duration was shorter and the July fair had moved to 5th August. Also, another fair was held in early April for the sale of tegs - two year old sheep - its origins are not known. The traditional ‘charter’ May Fair for sheep and cattle continued until in the early 1850s when it merged with the Summer Fair on the Common. The April Sheep Fair continued in the High Street; the wider roadway section below the Red Lion Inn being the traditional location of fairs since medieval times.
The Sussex Advertiser in April 1828 reported, ‘The Lindfield Teg Fair was most amply supplied with stock and buyers. This Fair has of late years attained a degree of celebrity superior to any in the County; and this assertion will be borne out by the fact that more sheep have been penned and have fetched greater prices than any Fair in the County.’ Similarly, in 1882 the Mid Sussex Times commented that the April Sheep Fair ‘was somewhat numerously attended by cattle dealers and agriculturalists. The High Street presented quite an old-time picturesque appearance, so far as the cattle etc. were concerned’ but the confectionery stalls were limited ‘and confined to the north end of the town.’
Nevertheless, the fair was in decline, partly due to the opening of cattle markets.
To read on and discover how the tradition survived turn to page 48 & 49 of July’s Lindfield Life magazine.