141:. Both male and female agricultural servants would gather in order to bargain with prospective employers and, hopefully, secure a position for the coming year. The yearly hiring included board and lodging for single employees for the whole year with wages being paid at the end of the year's service. These fairs attracted all the other trappings of a fair, and they turned into major feasts in their own right, and attracted poor reputations for the drunkenness and immorality involved. Later, when wage rates and conditions were no longer officially set, the hiring fair remained a useful institution, especially as much employment in rural areas was by annual agreement. Prospective workers would gather in the street or market place, often sporting some sort of badge or tool to denote their speciality. Shepherds held a crook or a tuft of wool, cowmen brought wisps of straw, dairymaids carried a milking stool or pail and housemaids held brooms or mops; this is why some hiring fairs were known as mop fairs. Employers would look them over and, if they were thought fit, hire them for the coming year, handing over a shilling to seal the arrangement.
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mop head. The 'tassle' worn on their lapel was the emblem of the employee's trade - for instance shepherds would wear a piece of wool in their buttonholes, whereas farmers might hold a piece of straw, and this tassle became known as a 'mop', hence the term "mop fair. Hiring fairs were also known as statute fairs (or statutes) because an Act of
Parliament of 1677 endorsed the yearly bonds made between masters and servants at them.
165:, which “fastened” the contract for a year. The employee would then remove the item signifying their trade and wear bright ribbons to indicate they had been hired. The stalls set up, at the fair, selling food and drink and offering games to play, would tempt the employee to spend their token money. The whole event became a major festival and eventually was condemned for the drunkenness and immorality they encouraged.
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The following towns have a history of holding mops and still hold one each year on or around
Michaelmas Day. A theme common to these towns is that they were, several hundred years ago, medium-sized thriving market towns surrounded by a large number of smaller villages, hence their obvious choice as
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Farm workers, labourers, servants and some craftsmen would work for their employer from
October to October. At the end of the employment they would attend the mop fair dressed in their Sunday best clothes and carrying an item signifying their trade. A servant with no particular skills would carry a
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would proclaim the stipulated rates of pay and conditions of employment for the following year. Because so many people gathered at a fair, it quickly turned into the major place for matching workers and employers. Hiring fairs continued well into the 20th century, up to the Second World War in some
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Tewkesbury and other mop fairs typically take over the entire town centre for two days, attracting thousands of visitors. Many of the rides at the mop are fast, brightly lit and very noisy including traditional rides such as carousels and helter-skelters.
86:. This legislation guaranteed minimum prices for wheat and oats, specified a minimum wage for agricultural workers and established the Agricultural Wages Board, to ensure stability for farmers and a share of this stability for agricultural workers.
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Employers would move amongst them discussing experience and terms, and once agreement was reached the employer would give the employee a small token of money, known as the “fasten-penny,” usually a
176:" and since 1752 was the date of the mop fairs. Although many towns continue to hold mop fairs to this day, traditional hiring fairs had ceased by the middle of the 20th century.
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and eleven days dropped from that year, events associated with the end of the harvest moved eleven days later to 10 October. This date is known as "
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A photograph, taken c. 1900, by Sir
Benjamin Stone, of two villagers at the Bidford Mop, an annual fair held at Michaelmas in the village of
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Michaelmas Day is celebrated on 29 September but mop fairs were tied to the seasons and the harvest, not the calendar. When
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Ashby
Statutes is held every September. Instituted by Royal Statute, it was originally a hiring fair.
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608:. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 523.
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places but their function as employment exchanges was diminished by the
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where labourers were hired for fixed terms. They date from the time of
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in 1351 at a time of a serious national shortage of labour after the
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673:(includes a list of hiring fairs which existed in that period)
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Three labourers with "facks" (spades) at an Irish hiring fair
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Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Stephen (2000). "Hiring Fairs".
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week at the end of
November, in the market towns of the
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of 1563, legislated for a particular day when the high
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626:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 177–178.
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Amongst Farm Horses: the horselads of East
Yorkshire
188:Preparations for Tewkesbury mop fair showing its
572:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 218.
570:The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History
525:"Observations on the Popular ... - Google Books"
438:"Pocklington History - Pocklington Hiring Fair"
461:The Changing Countryside in ... - Google Books
671:Servants in Husbandry in Early Modern England
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69:. Subsequent legislation, in particular the
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500:British Drama of the Industrial Revolution
170:the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1752
153:An advertisement for a hiring fair in 1861
715:Festivals established in the 14th century
502:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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396:"Journal of Agriculture - Google Books"
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375:"The Farmer's Magazine – Google Books"
89:Annual hiring fairs were held, during
690:Text of the Statute of Labourers 1351
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49:, were regular events in pre-modern
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624:A Dictionary of English Folklore
27:Fairs where labourers were hired
725:1351 establishments in England
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498:Burwick, Frederick (2015).
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208:the location for the mop.
440:. Pocklingtonhistory.com
95:East Riding of Yorkshire
84:Corn Production Act 1917
676:Caunce, Stephen (1991)
605:Encyclopædia Britannica
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355:La foire aux servantes
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71:Statute of Apprentices
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669:Kussmaul, Ann (1981)
458:Horn, Pamela (1984).
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545:"What Are Mop Fairs"
419:. Peak land heritage
63:Statute of Labourers
332:– a hiring fair at
292:Stratford upon Avon
652:2016-03-03 at the
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174:Old Michaelmas Day
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705:Autumn traditions
509:978-1-1071-1165-3
318:Ashby-de-la-Zouch
223:Burton upon Trent
16:(Redirected from
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720:Recruitment
336:in Scotland
308:Modern mops
268:Marlborough
243:Cirencester
135:Pocklington
103:Bridlington
67:Black Death
18:Hiring fair
699:Categories
566:Hey, David
530:2009-11-05
477:2009-11-05
444:2009-11-05
423:2009-11-05
402:2009-11-05
381:2009-11-05
359:Bouxwiller
346:References
334:Kilmarnock
297:Tewkesbury
190:dodgem car
131:Patrington
75:constables
59:Edward III
550:March 30,
361:, Alsace)
278:Sherborne
180:Mop towns
107:Driffield
91:Martinmas
47:mop fairs
650:Archived
568:(1996).
340:Job fair
324:See also
248:Daventry
213:Alcester
163:shilling
99:Beverley
330:Dudsday
302:Warwick
287:Southam
263:Ledbury
253:Evesham
218:Banbury
192:feature
145:History
115:Hornsea
77:of the
55:Ireland
43:statute
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398:. 1863
377:. 1858
137:, and
127:Malton
119:Howden
225:(the
111:Hedon
79:shire
628:ISBN
574:ISBN
552:2022
504:ISBN
466:ISBN
139:York
123:Hull
53:and
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
