VCH Middlesex, (vol.v) says that The Beggar’s Bush fairs to be held on Ascension Day and St Giles’s Day were founded at Southgate in 1614, when the site formed part of Enfield Chase, but were held at at the top of Clay Hill in 1771, before being restored to Southgate. There ere earlier fairs dating back to a grant in 1303.
John Walker’s The Universal Gazetteer (London 1798) lists two Beggars Bushes, one the Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire site, the other described as being in Middlesex “ten miles from London” – which fits Enfield. It is possible that the Beggars Bush name from Godmanchester transferred to an earlier Bush Fair at Enfield.
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Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Enfield, Middlesex, fairs | No Comments »
Holinshed’s Chronicles were first published in 1578, with a second edition in 1587. It remains a substantial sourcebook for the history and geography of Britain in the late sixteenth century. In Book 6, section 15, the contributor William Harrison lists the principle fairs and markets by date. He says, “On Bartholomew day, at London, at Beggers bush beside Rie, at Teukesburie, at Sudburie, at Rie, at Nantwich, at Pagets, at Bromleie, at Norwich, at Northalerton, at Douer.”
“Rie” must be Rye in East Sussex, but the reference is not without difficulties. It seems unlikely that there would have been a fair “beside” Rye and “at” Rye on the same day.
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Posted: March 13th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Coldharbour, Enfield, John Fletcher, Mockbeggars, Rye, Sussex, Wadhurst, early sites, fairs | No Comments »
