The changing role of fairs in the long eighteenth century

Evidence From the North Midlands1

Bibliographic Data

ID4353799
AuthorsIan Mitchell (0000-0003-4312-3150, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume60
Issue3
Pages545-573
Publication date2007-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Economic History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0117 • E-ISSN: 1468-0289
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-0289.2006.00372.x
OpenAlexW1973498582
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited21

Despite the recent interest of historians in retailing and distribution, little attention has been paid to fairs. It has often been assumed that by 1800 they were mainly occasions for entertainment. Using a range of sources and focusing mainly on the north midlands, this article argues that many fairs remained significant during the eighteenth century for agricultural marketing, some business and financial transactions, and retailing. By the early nineteenth century, rapidly changing economic conditions, coupled with changed attitudes, threatened these traditional roles and fairs had to adapt or face inevitable decline

Distribution (mathematics) · Economic history · Entertainment · Face (sociological concept) · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Threatened species · American History and Culture · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law