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Hiring fairs, also called statute or mop fairs, were regular events in pre-modern Great Britain and Ireland where labourers were hired for fixed terms. [1] They date from the time of Edward III , and his attempt to regulate the labour market by the Statute of Labourers in 1351 at a time of a serious national shortage of labour after the Black ...
One general report for hiring fairs states that Prospective workers would gather in the street or market place, often sporting some sort of badge or tool to denote their speciality: shepherds held a crook or a tuft of wool, cowmen brought wisps of straw, dairymaids carried a milking stool or pail and housemaids held brooms or mops, this is why some hiring fairs were known as mop fairs.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Ramsbury traditionally held two annual fairs – a livestock fair in the spring, and a hiring fair or Mop fair at Michaelmas.Nearby Marlborough's tradition of holding one Mop each side of Michaelmas ("Little Mop" on the Saturday before and "Big Mop" on the Saturday after) was originally a means to accommodate the (then) more prestigious Ramsbury Mop.
At some later date, a mop fair began to be held on the Green on the first Monday of October. A mop fair was a hiring fair where people would go looking for employment. After the decline of hiring fairs, the mop became a village fête organised by the Round Table and raising money for local people. More recently, the Round Table handed over ...
The Marlborough mop fair was originally a market where local goods could be sold or bartered. It later developed into a hiring fair for agricultural workers seeking employment, but now has become a travelling funfair. It takes place over two weekends in October, as the "big mop" and "little mop" fairs.
Each year on 12 October, unless this is a Sunday, in which case 11 October, Stratford hosts one of the largest mop fairs in the country. Ten days later, the smaller Runaway fair is held. [106] The Guild Chapel, at the intersection of Church Street and Chapel Lane, had a long association with William Shakespeare's family.
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It has for many centuries been the centre of the town taking on a number of functions during its history. Although Warwick as a town dates from before the Norman Conquest , one of the earliest recorded events to take place in the square was the mop fair which was chartered in the 14th century by Edward III . [ 1 ]