Can anyone provide or point me to a good resource for learning about markets and fairs (fairs in particular) around the beginning of the 17th Century in Britain - preferably Scotland. I'm looking for the wears on sale, games/competitions that might have been played, either singularly or as a group, and the kind of items that one might win/buy/sell, be it cakes, clothing, toys etc.
All and any help with this greatly appreciated!
It's an English fair, but one of the most interesting fairs that you might find documentation for are the Frost Fairs that took place on the Thames, particularly one in 1684. There have been a few occasions up until the early 1800s where the winter temperatures in London dipped low enough to freeze the Thames, allowing the enterprising citizens of London to set up Frost Fairs on the frozen river with tents, markets, sledging, archery and all kinds of activites going on.
My particular favourite woodprint is this one of the 1684 Frost Fair with a description attached, which lists off all kinds of things that Londoners could do on the ice. It lasted around two months or so (December 1683 to February 1684) so there was quite a lot set up there. You can also find that image listed as Great Britain's Wonder; or; London's Admiration in the British Museum collection and this blog has a listing of alternative images with their source links back to the British Museum collection, which is handy.
From the Great Britain's Wonder image I quite like the poem lines "There may you also this hard Frosty Winter / see on the Rocky Ice a Working-PRINTER, / Who hopes by his own Art to reap some gain / Which he perchance think he may obtain. / Here is also a Lottery and a Musick too / Yea, a cheating, drunken, leud and debauch'd crew. / Hot Codlins, Pancakes, Duck, Goose and Sack / Rabbit, Capon, Hen, Turkey and a Wooden Jack."
You've also got listed various pubs set up on the ice including "The Flying Piss-Pot", the "Whip and Egg-Shell" and "The Broom", bull and bear baiting, football, sledging, horse riding, roasted ox, fox hunts, skipping (Dancing o' th' Ropes), puppet plays and all sorts of shopping. Other woodprints show people playing nine-pins, a boat being drawn across the ice by horses, stilt walking and of course all kinds of ice skating.
Alternatively, I quite like this petulant, poignant little note from 1814: Where you, J FROST, have by Force and Violence taken possession of the River Thames I hearby give you notice to Quit Immediately. A Thaw.
