Waltham Fair

A photo of Waltham Fair taken in the 1890s. (Click to enlarge.)

Waltham has been holding an annual fair for the last four years. And in that short time it has grown into quite an event. But the fair has a far richer history than most people imagine, dating back to medieval times.

At some point we’ll add information about the origins of the fair. But Village Heritage Warden, Richard Snodin has sent me a press cutting dated June 1956 which adds some more interest to the story. Under the headline “County Agricultural Shows Had Their Origin At Waltham”, the article reads:

It was at a meeting at Waltham House in the late seventeen hundreds that the Waltham AgricuItural Association was formed, under the patronage of the then Duke of Rutland.

This was the first agricultural society in Leicestershire to promote an annual show, and even in those days it was a two-day affair. This great annual exhibition was held on the 18th and 12th September each year and horses and cattle from over a wide area turned up in great numbers.

Among the noted people who exhibited there were the celebrated Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, and Thomas Paget of Ibstock, two famous livestock improvers of bygone days.

In 1837 a special meeting of the association at Waltham House decided build an Agricultural Hall, and this was duly completed the following year. (Click here to view an engraving of the hall.)

Throughout the mid-eighteen hundreds the association prospered, and at its height gave away £450 each year in premiums to encourage good farming in the district. But with the coming of the agricultural depression, membership and interest dwindled, and shortly before the turn of the century the association was wound up.

In the 1840′s the land attached to Waltham House was let to a singular spinster, Mary Raines. Of her it was recorded that while she was a lady of good property – she never associated with anyone, never washed her face, and never slept on a bed. Her house was without a fireplace, and she considered fires an unnecessary luxury.

Another great day in Waltham’s history was December 7, 1843. On that day Queen Victoria and Prince Albert changed horses at the Royal Horse Shoes Inn, where they were attended by the Rev. Gabriel Gillett, rector of the parish, and Joseph Jarvis. of Waltham House.