What is Goose Fair?
The Nottingham Goose Fair is an annual travelling fun fair, held every year in October at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham. Nottingham Goose Fair is one of only three fairs in the UK to have the name Goose Fair, and is by far the most popular of the three with more than 400,000 visitors to the Nottingham fair each year. The fair shares its name with the smaller Goosey Fair in Tavistock, Devon, and Michaelmas Goose Fayre in Colyford, East Devon which is even smaller still. Today, the Nottingham event is known for its huge variety of funfair rides and attractions.
The Nottingham fair has had a very interesting history and has evolved hugely from its origins as an agricultural show. The fair was even the location of a “cheese riot” in 1764. According to the history books the price of cheese had risen by a third, and outraged customers threw entire wheels of cheese down the street in protest, with the poor stallholders chasing after them! The Dragoons even had to be called in, after the Mayor’s attempts to calm the revolution resulted in 100 pounds of cheese being hurled in his direction.
When Did the Goose Fair Begin?
According to the best estimates, the very first Goose Fair took place in 1284. The earliest reference to “St Mathew’s Fair”, the original name for the Goose Fair, dates back to Saxon times, but the Danes had a settlement in Nottingham before this and it’s believed that they set up a market with a primitive version of a fair.
In 1164 King Henry II granted a charter to Lenton Priory, a small settlement near Nottingham, allowing them to hold an annual fair to celebrate Martinmas. The royal charter decreed that this fair took priority over any others in the Nottingham district, and actually banned other fairs from taking place in the area for the duration of Lenton Priory fair. Over a century later, King Edward I granted a charter for a separate fair to be held in Nottingham on St Matthew’s Day. While it’s believed that the St Matthew’s Day fair was already in existence before the charter was decreed, the fair went on to flourish in Tudor times thanks to the 1284 charter that released it from the restrictions caused by the nearby Lenton fair.
While an exact date isn’t known, the Nottingham Goose Fair is thought to have been held on an annual basis in some form since 1284. Despite being a centuries-old tradition, the fair has only ever been cancelled three times – once because of the outbreak of the Bubonic plague, it was then cancelled for the duration of World War I, and finally in 2020 because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite being in the midst of World War II, the fair was actually held for a week in July 1943 and again in August 1944.
Why is it Called a Goose Fair?
Despite being known in modern times as an annual funfair, the Goose Fair has its roots in a more agricultural setting. The Goose Fair was originally started as a livestock and trade event, not unlike the country or county fairs that we have in the UK today. Farmers and food producers would attend the fair to sell their animals to other farmers, and local butchers, cheesemakers and various other local business owners would set up a stall at the fair to sell their wares alongside the main livestock market. The name “Goose Fair” actually comes from the fact that the fair was best known for the thousands of geese that would be brought to market. Every year up to 20,000 geese would be driven from Lincoln, Cambridge and Norfolk to Nottingham to be sold and stuffed for a traditional Michaelmas dish, which was celebrated in late September.
Originally, the fair is thought to have been called St Matt’s, but it became known to locals as Goosey due to the amount of geese at the market, and it soon adopted the name of “Goose Fair” as the nickname began to spread.
When Did It Turn into a Fun Fair?
As with most deep-rooted traditions, it’s hard to pin down exactly when they started, when things were modernised or most of the time the origins in general. Nottingham Goose Fair is no different. Nobody is entirely sure when the autumn fair began to turn into a funfair, but it’s expected that it was a gradual shift starting in the early 19th century.
In the 19th Century transport links to the city began to improve and with that there became less of a need for an autumnal fair. Residents didn’t need to stock up on produce from travelling merchants before the winter because they were more easily accessible throughout the year. However, local people still enjoyed visiting the fair to look around the stalls and by the end of the 19th century the fair had grown considerably, now featuring gondola rides, bikes, yachts, animal sideshows, and even a tunnel railway. The development of steam power allowed even larger attractions like big wheels, helter skelters and roundabouts to join the fair.
By the late 1800s the Goose Fair had gained more of a reputation as an excuse for local residents to let their hair down than an agricultural event. In 1877 some upper-class members of Nottingham society petitioned to stop what had largely become a fun event, questioning the “moral, social, sanitary and commercial effects” of holding the fair, but the council defended the fair as it brought a considerable amount of income into the area.
While we will never know the origins of Nottingham’s Goose Fair, it has nevertheless become a hugely popular event with 400,000 people coming from all over the city to visit each year. While we’re stuck waiting for the fair to be able to make its comeback at the moment, there is no doubt that residents will be back at the fair in huge numbers as soon as they can
