Highworth Market and Fairs.

Highworth is located where a Saxon royal estate once existed and where its hundred courts were held every four weeks. By the eleventh century a minster church had also been established. Lay settlements would have converged here attracting and encouraging trade. It is this pre-urban nucleus which provided a centre and ready market for the early borough of Highworth until it gained an economic life of its own.

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries, particularly, witnessed the establishment of new towns in England. Feudal lords were all involved in laying out planned towns with burgage plots on their manors with an adjacent market. Warin FitzGerold, whose family had held the hundred of Highworth since 1156, and who was lord of the manor of Sevenhampton, was influential in the founding of our town. One of the prime functions of a town was to act as a market and exchange for its hinterland. The acquisition of a market charter was essential for the medieval town to survive and develop. Charters authorising the holding of a weekly market and annual fairs, often conveying the privileges of borough status, and had to be purchased from the king. They were considered to be a profitable investment. To get a charter one needed influence at court. As hereditary chamberlain to both King Richard and later King John, FitzGerold, whose name appears on the Magna Carta, was in a unique position to achieve this goal.

On the 20th April 1206, the first known charter giving the right to hold a weekly Wednesday market and an annual fair at Highworth on the vigil and feast of St Michael (29th September) was granted to FitzGerold, by King John. This charter is amongst the earliest of Wiltshire's market charters, possibly the tenth oldest. This right has continued in the town into the twenty first century.

Ownership of the markets and fairs was a valuable perquisite which could be bought and sold. Sound economic reasons lay behind the purchase of these vital documents: rents from market stalls, tolls paid on goods brought into the borough, market place, fines levied in the markets and borough courts, seigneurial monopoly of prices all generated a substantial cash income for the owners of these charters.

At about this time Highworth was granted its Borough Charter. Certain commercial freedoms were usually included, notably exemption from tolls to the freemen of the town. This lessened their costs and increased their potential profit putting the townsmen at an advantage and the outsider at a disadvantage in buying and selling. A later grant to hold an annual fair on the feast of St Peter ad Vincula (1st August) was made to FitzGerold's great grandson, Baldwin de Redvers, 8th Earl of Devon, by King Henry III on 12th June 1257.

We know from a survey of the manor of Sevenhampton, made in 1274/75, that the lease of the windmill, market and fair of Highworth brought in an annual income of £10.00 to the landlord. The average weekly wage at that time was 4d (1.66p.) By the end of the thirteenth century Wiltshire had 49 market towns which held a total of 55 fairs.

The appearance of the medieval marketplace itself would have been very different from that of today. It would have been much larger, completely open in the centre and bordered by the buildings to the north of Sheep Street and the south of the High Street. The buildings now to be seen on the north side of the High street and in the centre of the market place are later infills and encroachments and indicate the success of the market town which attracted more craft and tradesmen to live there.

There is evidence that Highworth was involved in England's wool and cloth trade; references to mercers, staplers, fullers, dyers, and shearers appear frequently in many of the records relating to Highworth over a long period of time. In August 1365, Thomas Hungerford granted away much of his land in the area, 'except a shop called Shereresshoppe in Heygworth'. Shearing was the last process in the production of cloth. Hungerford obviously took great care that this property did not pass from his control. It is possible that this cloth would have been sold at the markets or fairs to local traders or possibly even to overseas buyers.

Highworth had its market cross, probably set up at the time of the granting of the market's charter in 1206. The survey of 1275 mentions a white cross adjacent to Market Street. A document dated 1684 tells of 'a Cross which is the principall part of the markett' whilst in 1821 there is a further mention 'over against the site of the Market House there where the high cross formerly stood' . The cross declared the authority of the market and provided a focal point from which the assembled traders and townspeople could be addressed by market officials and itinerant preachers.

By 1547 Thomas, Lord Seymour gained possession of the Hundred and Borough of Highworth, together with its fairs and markets, when he married the widowed queen Catherine Parr, who had been granted them for her life as part of her dower when she married King Henry VIII.

Leland, the antiquarian, writing in the mid sixteenth century relates that:

'I lernid of certentye that a mile out of Faringdon, toward the right way (to) Highworth toune V miles from Faringdon wher is a good market for Barkshir on the Wensday'.

In the 1580s John Warneford and John Stock are recorded as growing woad in Sevenhampton, Eastrop and Lint. Woad was used in the cloth dyeing trade and some of their goods would probably have passed through Highworth market.

Inns, always a good indicator of the activity and success of a market town, were centres of commercial activity where wholesale dealings often went on. Highworth, in 1607, had at least twelve inns pointing to its standing as an important and thriving market town. Ale was also allowed to be sold from bush houses during the markets and fairs; Highworth had at least two of these in Sheep Street and at the east end of the High Street.

In the first half of the 17th century Highworth experienced major economic and social difficulties. In the 1630s outbreaks of plague had occurred in the town and the surrounding area, resulting in trade moving to nearby towns.

John Aubrey writing of Swindon in 1672 says 'here is on Munday every weeke a gallant markett for cattle, which increased to its now greatnesse upon the plague of Highworth, about 20 years since'.

During the Civil War of 1642-1649 Highworth was garrisoned initially by the King from April 1644 to June 27th 1645 when it fell to the Parliamentarians who occupied it through to October 1646. The presence of troops in the area discouraged traders from attending the market and business drifted away to other more peaceful places.

A Parliamentary intelligence report for Wednesday 17th May 1643 states "the butchers which were wont to kepe their markets at Highworth and other places thereabouts cannot now passe without having both their oxon and sheepe taken from them by the Cavallyers".

In his Natural History of Wiltshire John Aubrey comments:

'At Highworth was the greatest market, on Wednesday, for fatt cattle in our county; which was furnished by the rich vale; and the Oxford butchers furnished themselves here. In the late civill warres it being made a garrison for the King, the graziers, to avoid the rudeness of the soldiers, quitted that market, and went to Swindon, four miles distant, where the market on Monday continues still, which before was a petty; inconsiderable one. Also the plague was at Highworth before the late warres, which was very prejudiciall to the market there, by reason whereof all the countrey sent their cattle to Swindon market, as they did before in Highworth'.

In the mid 17th century Welford, then owner of Highworth's market and fairs, sold them to a lawyer, William Blomer (sic), of Hatherop and in 1672 the 'profits, customs and tolls' were purchased by his brother John Bloomer of Hatherop for £700. On his death they passed to his sister, Dame Mary and her husband Sir John Webbe of Canford, Dorset. In 1686 they sold the rights to Thomas Freke of Hannington for £800 suggesting that the markets and fairs had regained their previous prosperity.

It was this Thomas Freke who had the market house built for the 'farmers and traders to stand out of the rain and for the safe storage of their corn and other goods'. The weights and measures, including a common weighing beam and a brass dish belonged to Freke. These were stored in the upper rooms together with the records of the tolls paid. Cubbs or stalls were also stored underneath the house.

The Highworth Historical Society has a two page document, regrettably undated, described as 'The Toll Book of the Markets and Fairs of Highworth'. This sets out the rules regarding the sale of horses. It is signed by William Freke, Lord of the Market. It is unclear whether this is the William Freke who died in 1657, or the William who died in 1744. It is probably more likely to be the latter but further research needs to be done on this.

The Freke family retained the rights and in 1725 commissioned a 'Survey of the Profits'. This revealed that the charge for traders setting up stalls was one penny, the toll for sheep was four pence per score, for cattle two pence each, for horses four pence and for pigs one penny. The survey lists in detail the stalls, standings and pens for livestock along the streets and on the waste ground at the south end of the town. It also identifies the alehouses and dwellings which had the right to sell goods, paying one penny each for the privilege. Toll on grain sold in the market was levied by means of ' the Brass Dish used for the purpose (containing about one pint) out of each Four Bushells and so in proportion ' . Further income for the owner came from the use of the Market House and the rooms over it, and from a charge of one penny for each use of the beam weights. The total income to the Freke family from the markets and fairs was said to amount to about £50 per annum.

By the 17th and 18th centuries dairy farming had become the main business of north Wiltshire. The fattening of cattle, sheep and pigs was secondary to it. One of the chief reasons for this was the change to the pasturing of Longhorn cattle. They were considered to be the ideal all-purpose breed for the period. Their size and power, coupled with a quiet temperament made them ideal as draught animals and their milk was especially suited for the making of butter and - especially - cheese. They were also good beef cattle which could walk many miles to market. Dairies of up to 100 cows, with some as large as 200, were assembled in spring from Highworth which was a centre for Staffordshire and other Midland stock. It has been estimated that nine-tenths of the farmers had these north country English Longhorn cattle.

Most farms in the area were producing cheese of a very high quality. South Marston was famous for the excellence of its cheeses. The majority of north Wiltshire cheeses were sold as single or double Gloucester with a smaller quantity of Wiltshire loaf cheeses being produced.

Daniel Defoe writing in 1724-7 commented on the north Wiltshire trade in cheeses, bacon and malt taken along the river Thames by barge to London. Some of this would doubtless have left from the wharves at Buscot and Lechlade. Apart from the Wiltshire cheeses already mentioned, a green cheese was produced in the spring and traded in May and June. This was thin and soft and 'universally liked and accepted in London'. Wiltshire bacon too, thought to be amongst the finest in England, was raised in the area. The hogs were fed on the whey and skimmed milk left from the production of the cheeses. Vast quantities of barley was grown in the area which was turned into malt and carried to London. Trade in all these three products would have passed through the local markets, including Highworth. George Farr, Maltster, was able to afford to have the White House in Lechlade Road built in the early 1700's on the profits of his trade whilst those of Thomas Ewer, cheesemonger, and liveryman of the worshipful company of leather sellers, enabled him to endow the Ewer charity on his death later in the century.

Ownership of the markets and fairs continued in the hands of the Freke family until 13th October, 1843 when Colonel Henry John Freke sold them for £300 to Thomas Ackling, Corn Dealer and Thomas Yeates, Butcher both of Highworth. Ackling did not hold them for long, selling them for £350 some eighteen months later on the 1st April 1845 to John Phipps. At some point between 8 th December 1852 and the 14th January 1854 Phipps died leaving the markets and fairs to his daughter Martha Mary Phipps, then a minor.

It was at about this time that Highworth, together with its markets and fairs, began to decline. Like many other places this decline was because of the growth of the industrial towns and the agricultural depression, and highlights the vulnerability of English towns to forces outside their control. The new Great Western Railway works opened in Swindon in January 1843 providing not only work but a transportation system for the produce traded at their growing market. Enclosure and agricultural mechanisation leading to high unemployment led to a drift away from the land towards the industrial towns. Emigration from Highworth occurred, some going only as far as Swindon but others moving as far afield as America, Canada and Australia. At its peak up to a hundred people left the town every year.

At a meeting held on 29th December 1858 an attempt was made to revive Highworth's once thriving market. Captain John Willes Johnson of Hannington Hall together with a committee of twelve townsmen composed mainly of farmers and tradesmen proposed that a monthly market should be established in Highworth to be held on the last Wednesday of every month and that the tolls should no longer be paid.

On the 23rd November 1859 the sale was agreed and £300 was paid to the trustees and guardians of Martha Mary Phipps. One of these guardians, William Hewer, was also a member of the above committee. Residing at Sevenhampton, he was a noted breeder of high grade pigs.

Highworth's old Market House, and probably its market cross, had been taken down in the early nineteenth century to facilitate the movement of traffic through the town. A Toll House was then used for the purposes for which the market house had been used. On 3rd April 1861 a meeting was held where it was unanimously agreed that the Toll House should be sold by Public Auction for the best price that could be obtained. It was sold at the Saracen's Head at 7 o'clock in the evening of the 10th April, and on 8th May 1861 was conveyed to Messrs Willoughby and Vines. Storage of the market equipment was moved to the back of the Saracen's Head inn where it remained until the market ceased in the 1930's.

Despite a brief resurrection the market was struggling for survival some fifteen years later. The opening of the Swindon and Highworth Light Railway in 1883, which it had been hoped would be beneficial to the market, proved to be of very little help. Swindon market gained at the expense of Highworth as it took customers into Swindon for the market and shopping there. The two fairs had also moved from being places of business to more of a pleasure fair.

Alfred Williams, writing in 1914, describes the Highworth Michaelmas Fairs of his youth, around 1884, thus, 'the whole of the principal streets were packed with booths and shows, swings roundabouts, and other means of amusement; you could scarcely move for the crowds of people'. By 1913 he found that 'There is very little hiring done nowadays in this locality; the farmers generally advertise in the newspapers, or meet with the men on market-days, and make the necessary arrangements; and as for the fair, that is very nearly at an end. Happening to be in the town one evening a year ago, and seeing a small crowd of people in the market-place, I asked the meaning of it, and was told, very unceremoniously, that it was "Highworth Fair", but it was very unlike that I had attended when a boy with my mother'.

There appears to have been a slight increase in trade during the period of the First World War. During the February of 1923 the market was held under threat of foot and mouth disease. The following February the market was moved from the third to the second Wednesday of each month in an attempt to avoid clashing with other local events. Unfortunately, foot and month led to the March market being closed in that year.

During the last four months of 1925 things picked up and the market was well attended but in 1926 it appears that only two markets were held, the first on the 10 th February and the second on the 8th September. It is doubtful that the market continued beyond that date. The final straw was almost certainly an outbreak of foot and mouth disease at the beginning of December that year which spread over north-east Wiltshire and into west Berkshire. Livestock movement was prohibited in the area and the already weak market failed to survive this last setback.

The annual pleasure fairs continued to be held. In 1970 the market place was sold to Highworth Rural District Council. There was a movement in 1980 to revive the market and a petition in support of this was organised by Councillor Mrs Haines which was signed by some 500 people. It was to be a street market held on a Saturday. On Saturday 30th May 1981 the Highworth Street Market was opened heralding in another era in the long history of Highworth's markets and fairs.

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