Atop an eight hundred foot high hill, near the busy Cotswolds, is the charming town known as Stow on the Wold. This city has its roots deep in the Middle Ages and, ever since the 1300s, people have flocked from all over to visit the many popular fairs and carnivals that make Stow on the Wold a well-known destination to this day.
The city's strategic location on a hill made it a popular defensive point ever since man first discovered weapons. During the Iron Age a bold and impressive fort was the centerpiece of this burgeoning burg and visitors today can still see the remains of this and even older remnants of civilizations past are scattered throughout the city. Burial grounds from the Stone and Bronze Ages, for instance, have been uncovered and are on display for anybody interested in the fascinating history of the area. Later years brought the typical abbey setup that was popular in England around the 900s and on and, like many other abbey cities, gathering funds for the monks and the abbey became the catalyst for creating a market town. Stow on the Wold's proximity to the many busy crossroads of the day made it perfect for trading goods and services and the city quickly grew both in prominence and size. It wasn't long after that until the trademark fairs that Stow on the Wold is best known for began being practiced.
In the early 1300s, King Edward III created what was to be the first in a long run of seven day fairs. This setup was more of a market theme, however, and Edward's successor was the first to enact the carnival atmosphere of fun and merrymaking that modern day fairs are associated with. The year was 1476 and Edward IV also changed the timing of the fair by creating two separate five day fairs that would bookend important religious events. The feast of St. Philip and St. James, for instance, would be ushered in by a festival two days before the feast and then, at the end, another festival would round out the holy celebration. The feast of St. Edward the Confessor was also similarly celebrated in October with a fair both before and after the feast itself.
These fairs still were associated with trading, however, and the city grew up rapidly as more and more hands traded goods within Stow on the Wold's walls. People would trade everything from metal to livestock and it was estimated that during the 1800s some sellers would unload over twenty thousand sheep at one fair! While wool is no longer the hot commodity it once was, Stow on the Wold still holds these massive fairs and the trading of other livestock like horses is still as busy as it was two and even three hundred years ago. Every time a fair is held roads must be blocked off and some pubs must close early because of the massive crowds and intense carnival atmosphere that follows. Stow on the Wold shows us that, no matter which generation we belong to, we human beings are all alike in our pursuit of fun and entertainment.
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