The Westbury Hill Fair, or Westbury Hill Sheep Fair, was an annual fair which took place on the first Tuesday in September on high ground at Westbury, Wiltshire, England, near the north-western corner of Salisbury Plain. The main business was the sale of sheep. The fair was well-established by the mid 19th century and had come to an end by 1942.
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, or 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]
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 Speciality". [13]
On 6 September 1924, a local newspaper reported "Successful Hill Fair. — Westbury Hill Fair was held in ideal weather on Tuesday, and attracted not only a large company of farmers and dealers but also a large number of the fair sex and children." [14] At this time, sheep were commonly sold on a handshake, with the price to be paid later. Horses were also traded, with some being sent from Ireland by boat and train, to be walked up the hill from Westbury railway station. Some local schools were closed on the day of the fair. Gypsies camped for the summer at Beggar’s Knoll to work on the hill farms and came to the fair to sell clothes pegs and paper flowers. Dealers came for the day to sell crockery, cutlery, and other wares. [15]
In 1939, one of the auctioneers for the Fair, held on 5 September, was Dart & Son of Warminster. [16] 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". [17] 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. [18] 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. [19] A retrospective in the Wiltshire Times of 29 August 1942 noted that
"In September came the last event of our year — Westbury Hill Sheep Fair. Thousands of sheep changed hands, and the village roads were frequently blocked with flocks moving slowly to their destination. Sheep-washing in Bratton stream ceased nearly thirty years ago. Even before the war, Westbury Hill Fair had dwindled into a comparatively small event." [20]
After that, no traces of the fair being held have been found. [21]
Wiltshire is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the northeast and Berkshire to the east. The county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the county town of Trowbridge. Within the ceremonial county's boundary are two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council.
Edington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) east-northeast of Westbury. The village lies under the north slope of Salisbury Plain and the parish extends south onto the Plain. Its Grade I listed parish church was built for Edington Priory in the 14th century.
Westbury or Bratton White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain, approximately 1.5 mi (2.4 km) east of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. Located on the edge of Bratton Downs and lying just below an Iron Age hill fort, it is the oldest of several white horses carved in Wiltshire. It was restored in 1778, an action which may have obliterated another horse that had occupied the same slope. A contemporary engraving from around 1772 appears to show a horse facing in the opposite direction that was rather smaller than the present figure. There is, however, no documentation or other evidence for the existence of a chalk horse at Westbury before 1772.
Westbury is a market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster.
Westbury was a parliamentary constituency in Wiltshire from 1449 to 2010. It was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, and then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 2010.
Dilton Marsh is a village and civil parish in the far west of the county of Wiltshire, in the southwest of England. The village is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of the centre of the town of Westbury; Dilton Marsh remains a distinct settlement with its own character and community, bounded and separated from Westbury Leigh by the Biss Brook.
Wiltshire County Council was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county.
Wiltshire is a historic county located in the South West England region. Wiltshire is landlocked and is in the east of the region.
The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth. The Wessex Main Line intersects the Reading to Taunton Line at Westbury and the West of England Main Line at Salisbury.
Bratton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, about 2.5 miles (4 km) east of Westbury. The village lies under the northern slope of Salisbury Plain, on the B3098 Westbury – Market Lavington road.
Dilton Marsh railway station serves the village of Dilton Marsh in Wiltshire, England. It is on the Wessex Main Line between Bristol Temple Meads and Southampton Central railway station, 23 miles (37 km) north of Salisbury. Great Western Railway manages the station and operates services between Bristol and the South Coast which call there.
Bratton Downs is a 395.8 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, England, near the villages of Bratton and Edington, and about 3 miles (5 km) east of the town of Westbury. It was notified in 1971. The designated area consists mainly of chalk grassland, as well as some ancient woodland, and supports a diverse range of native flora and fauna. It overlays notable geological features—principally landforms created by glaciation in the Pleistocene.
Ashton Gifford House is a Grade II listed country house in the hamlet of Ashton Gifford, part of the civil parish of Codford in the English county of Wiltshire. Ashton Gifford House is mentioned in the Wiltshire edition of the Pevsner Architectural Guides. The house was built during the early 19th century, following the precepts of Georgian architecture, and its estate eventually included all of the hamlet or tithing of Ashton Gifford. The house sits in the Wylye valley, part of the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Wiltshire Horn is a breed of domestic sheep originally from Wiltshire in southern England raised for meat. The breed is unusual among native British breeds, for it has the unusual feature of moulting its short wool and hair coat naturally in spring, obviating the need for shearing. They are good mothers and have high fertility.
Elections to Wiltshire County Council were held on 7 June 2001. The whole council was up for election and the Conservatives held onto control.
The Salisbury branch line of the Great Western Railway from Westbury to Salisbury in Wiltshire, England, was completed in 1856. Most of the smaller stations were closed in 1955 but the line remains in use as part of the Wessex Main Line.
Abraham Laverton, of Westbury, Wiltshire, was an English cloth mill owner, Liberal Member of Parliament for the parliamentary borough of Westbury from 1874 to 1880, and philanthropist.