Folklore & Customs: London's Historic Bartholomew Fair

In the past, Londoners would today have been eagerly setting out to enjoy the delights of Bartholomew Fair. This was for centuries the highlight of August, and although it was named after a martyred saint, it was not a pious religious festival. In fact it got closed down in 1855 because the drunkeness and debauchery that went on there shocked prudish Victorians. 

That wasn't how it started. It was originally a simple cloth fair. The charter was granted by King Henry I in 1133 and it took place on St Bartholomew's Day, 24 August, at London's West Smithfield. Over the centuries the cloth-selling aspect gave way to general entertanment. This included funfairs, sideshows, prize-fights, music, wire-walkers, acrobats, clowns and puppet shows as well as plenty of eating, drinking and flirting. You could queue up to see exhibits including wild animals, rare objects and, sadly, humans under the name of "freak shows". Yeah, I'm sure the poor animals suffered and that last thing's far more icky than the debauchery, isn't it? 

But, perhaps more than anything, Bartholomew Fair was somewhere to take your lover - or to find a lover if you didn't already have one. One of the souvenirs you might have bought them was a Bartholomew Baby. This was a wooden doll that became a traditional gift for a sweetheart and also a slang term for someone who got drunk.

The fair became a hugely popular and famous part of London's cycle of annual customs. It featured in literature, including a play of that name by Ben Jonson. Samuel Pepys wrote about the fair in his diary and in Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, the heroine meets a well-dressed man there. I learnt that there's an online audio drama called The Carnival Of Horrors, by The Wireless Theatre Company, set at Bartholomew Fair of 1845. It's part of a series on Springheeled Jack. Today would be the perfect time to listen to it.

The picture shows Bartholomew Fair by Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) and Augustus Charles Pugin (1762–1832)

More Folklore and Customs
I've been blogging each month about folklore and customs old and new. Here are links to some of my earlier posts:

https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/05/folklore-customs-bromleys-broom-day.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/07/folklore-st-swithuns-day-rain-apple.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/06/customs-summerween-festival-or-fakelore.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/04/folklore-customs-dandelions-on-st.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/06/midsummer-lore-street-parties-and-st.html