Hiring and mop fairs
Hiring fairs, also called statute or mop fairs, were regular events in pre-modern
Annual hiring fairs were held, during
History
Farm workers, labourers, servants and some craftsmen would work for their employer from October to October. At the end of the employment they would attend the mop fair dressed in their Sunday best clothes and carrying an item signifying their trade. A servant with no particular skills would carry a mop head.[6] The 'tassle' worn on their lapel was the emblem of the employee's trade - for instance shepherds would wear a piece of wool in their buttonholes, whereas farmers might hold a piece of straw,[8] and this tassle became known as a 'mop', hence the term "mop fair.[6] Hiring fairs were also known as statute fairs (or statutes) because an Act of Parliament of 1677 endorsed the yearly bonds made between masters and servants at them.[9]
Employers would move amongst them discussing experience and terms, and once agreement was reached the employer would give the employee a small token of money, known as the “fasten-penny,” usually a shilling, which “fastened” the contract for a year. The employee would then remove the item signifying their trade and wear bright ribbons to indicate they had been hired. The stalls set up, at the fair, selling food and drink and offering games to play, would tempt the employee to spend their token money. The whole event became a major festival and eventually was condemned for the drunkenness and immorality they encouraged.[6][10][11]
Michaelmas Day is celebrated on 29 September but mop fairs were tied to the seasons and the harvest, not the calendar. When
Mop towns
The following towns have a history of holding mops and still hold one each year on or around Michaelmas Day. A theme common to these towns is that they were, several hundred years ago, medium-sized thriving market towns surrounded by a large number of smaller villages, hence their obvious choice as the location for the mop.
- Alcester
- Banbury
- Burton upon Trent (the Statutes Fair)
- Chipping Norton[12]
- Chipping Sodbury
- Cirencester
- Daventry
- Evesham
- Kings Norton
- Ledbury
- Marlborough
- Moreton in Marsh
- Sherborne, Pack Monday Fair
- Southam
- Stratford upon Avon
- Tewkesbury
- Warwick
Modern mops
Tewkesbury and other mop fairs typically take over the entire town centre for two days, attracting thousands of visitors. Many of the rides at the mop are fast, brightly lit and very noisy including traditional rides such as carousels and helter-skelters.
At Ashby-de-la-Zouch Ashby Statutes is held every September. Instituted by Royal Statute, it was originally a hiring fair.
See also
- Dudsday – a hiring fair at Kilmarnock in Scotland
- Job fair
References
- ^ "The Farmer's Magazine – Google Books". 1858. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "Journal of Agriculture - Google Books". 1863. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "Peak district local history, customs, wildlife, transport - Peakland Heritage". Peak land heritage. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "Pocklington History - Pocklington Hiring Fair". Pocklingtonhistory.com. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^
Horn, Pamela (1984). The Changing Countryside in ... - Google Books. ISBN 9780838632321. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-1071-1165-3.
- ^ Brand (1849). "Observations on the Popular ... - Google Books". Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "What Are Mop Fairs". Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ISBN 0-1921-1688-6.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 523.
- ^ ISBN 0-1921-0019-X.
- ^ Chipping Norton Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine at OXTowns.co.uk
Further reading
- Kussmaul, Ann (1981) Servants in Husbandry in Early Modern England (includes a list of hiring fairs which existed in that period)
- Caunce, Stephen (1991) Amongst Farm Horses: the horselads of East Yorkshire