St Giles' Fair, Oxford, Oxfordshire

Photograph taken 1st September 1876 © Reproduced by permission of Oxfordshire County Council ref: dscn0077

Many people felt that the Fair had got out of hand. In 1876 the Mayor outlawed the use of 'devices' such as water squirts and scratch-my-backs. Judging from a painting of the Fair by night in 1910, this gesture had little effect.

Location

Oxfordshire Oxford

Period

Victorian (1837 - 1901)

Themes

The village stocks with four ankle holes for the punishment of petty crime and misdemeanor in the village. Although probably used from the Anglo-Saxon period, a statute of 1351 made it law for every township to provide and maintain a set of stocks.

St Giles' Fair, Oxford, Oxfordshire

Location

Period

Themes

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