Sheep Fair

Note: I wrote this at great speed yesterday, which is why I have to keep going back and correcting errors. It also has not really conveyed my true feelings about the event. On Question Time two weeks ago Professor David Starkey said that politicians had generally stopped "venerating the Shires". This is a big mistake, as the majority of English people mentally live in the Shires (including suburbia in the classification "urban" is culturally ignorant - the whole ethos of suburbia is anti-urban). If Ed Miliband is serious about connecting with "middle England" he needs to be seen at events like this (David Cameron does this already). And give serious support to the Rare Breeds Society.



Above: this is a blog post that is a week late, and relates to my visit last Sunday to a Sheep Fair in the south east of the county. The Fair has been held annually for the past seven hundred and seventy-two years. The Fair is held in a small village on the stone belt (Jurassic limestone).



Above: on the way to the Fair I was a bit concerned about how "authentic" it would be. Many village festivals have become tourist attractions for townies trying to get in touch with their "roots". As I parked my car in a bumpy field I was reassured by the amount of mud everywhere - it seemed to be a guarantee of "authenticity".



Above: I got there about 3pm when the light was already beginning to fade (the rain clouds made the sky overcast, adding to the gloom). I looked at the various signs, wondering what I should see first. Very fine light rain (hardly noticable) was falling.



Above: I walked through the funfair which was brash and gaudy. Hundreds of children. I was reminded of Scott Fitzgerald's comment about the magical appearance of funfairs when seen from a distance at dusk.



Above: this stall selling "old fashioned fairings" did make me wonder if the event was becoming a self-conscious heritage parody of itself. But this was the only twee item I saw all afternoon. Also most of the people seemed to be locals who knew each other (perhaps I was the only outsider?).



Above: in the church hall was a demonstration of spinning. All of the spinners kept sheep. One sheep farmer (out of shot) told me "When I started I had two Norfolk Horn sheep - which was twenty per cent of the total in existence!" We talked about the Rare Breeds Trust.



Above: there was a display of wool from the different sheep. I was interested in the Jacob wool as we have several blankets at home made from Jacob wool. There were also samples of raw wool and explanations about how it is processed.



Above: I walked on to the market place where there was a big representation of a sheep on the official Fair stall surrounded by vases of flowers (this picture was taken from the back of the stall). Sheep have always been important to the economy of the south east of the county. Seeing this arrangement made me think of the golden calf set up by the Israelites on Mount Sinai.



Above: to one side of the market place the drummers were drumming. Ritual drumming has been practised since Neolithic times, and is supposed to drive out evil spirits. According to Sir James Frazer drumming was also used to initiate higher states of consciousness.



Above: a band of black-faced morris assembled. They wear costumes made from coloured ribbons with pheasant feathers in their hats. The rain had stopped by this time.



Above: as the band began to play two lines of morris dancers, holding staves, began a performance. They went on for about half an hour. I was impressed by the antiquity of this scene - such dances have probably been performed on this spot since the first Sheep Fair nearly eight hundred years ago.



Above: I walked along to the church, which was on a ridge of ground overlooking the village centre. Described by Pevsner as a Perpendicular and Decorated ensemble. The dedication is to St John the Evangelist.



Above: inside it was decorated for Harvest Festival. Every ledge and flat surface held arrangements of vegetables, fruits and autumn flowers. Improving texts accompanied the displays.



Above: the great east window had a representation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, carrying a lamb and a shepherd's crook.



Above: on the walls of the nave, just below the clerestory, were medieval wall paintings featuring shepherds and their sheep. These paintings, discovered in 1939, are of international importance. Obviously the keeping of sheep was (and is) of great cultural significance in the locality.



Above: walking back down to the centre of the village I saw this stall selling mutton stew. I briefly considered trying some, then decided against it (I only had limited time to spare). The supermarkets are obsessed with selling lamb - there is no reason why they should not also sell mutton.



Above: as I walked back to my car I saw the sheep pens in the fields ready for the following day.



Above: later at home I reread Hardy's Sheep Fair.