Westbury Hill Fair

The Westbury Hill Fair, or Westbury Hill Sheep Fair, was an annual fair which took place on high ground at Westbury, Wiltshire, England, near the north-western corner of Salisbury Plain, the main business being the sale of sheep. It was well-established by the mid 19th century and had come to an end by 1945.

The site of the fair lay above the Westbury White Horse

History

Wiltshire Horn sheep

Hampshire Down ewes

The Hill Fair tankard of 1862, with inscription reading "Awarded to MR. STEPHEN SAUNDERS as the Purchaser of the largest number of Sheep at WESTBURY HILL FAIR. SEPTR. 2ND. 1862. The gift of the Proprietor of the Fair"

The origins of the Westbury Hill Fair are uncertain, but according to one source a bequest was made in 1775 to provide a guinea once a year to pay for a sermon to warn the young people of the nearby village of Bratton against the dangers of the Hill Fair. This is evidence that by then an annual fair already existed in some form.[1]

In all the records of it, the chief business at the fair was the sale of sheep, and as with all country fairs there were also other entertainments and goods for sale. The site of the fair was downland near the Westbury White Horse, known as Westbury Hill,[1] a slow uphill climb if coming up from the town below, a long journey if travelling across Salisbury Plain. The breeds of sheep traded included the Hampshire Down, the Southdown, and in earlier days the Wiltshire Horn. In its heyday, the fair rivalled a similar sheep fair held at Wilton. The fair at Westbury benefited from the opening in 1853 of the Westbury station on the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, and as Westbury became established as the junction of the Reading to Taunton line with what is now the Wessex Main Line, its transport links improved. However, the Wilton sheep fair also grew during the 19th century, with 40,000 sheep reported from there in 1883, a figure rising to some 95,000 in 1901.[2]

Notice was given of a Westbury Hill Sheep Fair in September in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal of 20 August 1853.[3] In September 1862 the owner of the Westbury Hill Fair gave a silver tankard (pictured) to the buyer of the largest number of sheep. On 11 September 1868 The Welshman reported that "This week several important fairs and markets have been held, and from each and all the report is a very dull trade, at barely the recently improved rates. Thus at Westbury-hill fair there was a very large supply of sheep – the largest ever known but the trade was heavy, and a clearance could not be made."[4]

In the 1870s the fair was reported as a large annual event and was held on the first Tuesday in September.[5][6][7] In September 1872 the Salisbury and Winchester Journal reported the sale of good lambs and ewes from Imber, Norton Bavant, Knook, Chitterne, Heytesbury, and Sutton Veny, with "most of the primest of the ram Iambs making 6 guineas each".[8] In 1882 applications for entry to the Westbury Hill Sheep Fair were to be made to Mr. W. Beaven at Pound Farm, Westbury.[9]

In 1890, the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette noted that the fair was shrinking in size and reported that "trade was dull and slow", but Mr Justice Lopes had done well in making thirty shillings each for a hundred mixed lambs.[10] By the end of the 19th century, it was noticed that the fair caused low attendance at local schools, including that at nearby Dilton Marsh.[11]

Twentieth century decline

In the early 20th century, the fair continued to decline, with only some 20,000 sheep passing through it every year.[12] In 1912 a notice for the fair appeared in the London Standard, announcing "Westbury Hill Fair: Pedigree Hampshire Down Sheep a Specialty".[13]

In 1939, one of the auctioneers for the Fair, held on 5 September, was Dart & Son of Warminster.[14] In 1940, in the early months of the Second World War, the Land Utilisation Survey noted that "Westbury's Sheep Fair today handles less than 10,000 sheep".[15] That year’s Fair took place on 3 September 1940, and another of the firms of auctioneers, Lavington & Hooper, advertised a few days before that 1,650 Hampshire Downs had been entered with them for sale.[16] In 1941, the same auctioneers advertised their sale at the Fair to start at 8:30 am on 2 September, with 1,275 Hampshire Down and cross-bred Ewes and Lambs having been entered by 16 August.[17] By 1945, the fair was no longer being held.

Notes

1. Cathy Sedgwick, FLOCKMASTERS AND SHEPHERDS OF BRATTON at wiltshire-opc.org.uk, accessed 8 January 2018
2. Wilton at wiltshire.gov.uk, accessed 30 May 2010
3. Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 20 August 1853
4. "The Country Markets" in The Welshman dated 11 September 1868, p. 2
5. Hugh Chisholm, ed., Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-11), volume 28, p. 536: "In 1875 a yearly sheep fair took place on the first Tuesday in September..."
6. Ralph Bernard Pugh, A History of the County of Wiltshire, 1953
7. Edward Robert Kelly, Wiltshire (1875), p. 335: "On the Downs a sheep fair is held annually on the first Tuesday in September..."
8. Salisbury and Winchester Journal – Saturday 7 September 1872 at wiltshire-opc.org.uk, accessed 8 January 2018
9. Question Date : Monday 4th July 2011 at history.wiltshire.gov.uk, accessed 8 January 2018
10. Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette – Thursday 4 September 1890 at wiltshire-opc.org.uk : "This annual fair, which was formerly of far greater dimensions than now, was held on Tuesday, when the number of sheep penned was much below the average. There was a good attendance of dealers, but trade on the whole was dull and slow, especially for lambs, which made from 3s. to 4s. per head less than last year. There was a fair demand for ewes, which, however, made from 1s. to 2s. per head less than last year. Among some of the best sales effected we noticed the following:- Lord Justice Lopes, who made 30s. per head for 100 mixed lambs..."
11. "County School, Dilton Marsh". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
12. 'Westbury: Fairs and markets', in A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 8: Warminster, Westbury and Whorwellsdown Hundreds (1965), pp. 175-176, accessed 30 May 2010
13. London Standard Newspaper Archives, 2 September 1912, p. 3
14. ”DART & SON PRELIMINARY NOTICE. WESTBURY HILL FAIR. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th.” in Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, Saturday 19 August 1939, p. 6
15. Laurence Dudley Stamp, The Land of Britain: the report of the Land Utilisation Survey (1940), Parts 87-89, p. 200L
16. ”LAVINGTON & HOOPER SALE ON TUESDAY NEXT. WESTBURY HILL FAIR.” in Wiltshire Times, Saturday 31 August 1940, p. 6
17. “WESTBURY HILL FAIR”, in Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, Saturday 16 August 1941, p. 6