Westbury Sheep Fair

The site of the fair lay above the Westbury White Horse

The Westbury Sheep Fair was an annual fair which took place on high ground at Westbury, Wiltshire, near the north-western corner of Salisbury Plain, for the sale of sheep. It was probably established in the mid 19th century and had come to an end by 1945.

History

Wiltshire Horn sheep

The origins of the Westbury Sheep Fair are uncertain, but it was reported as a large annual event in the 1870s, when it was held on the first Tuesday in September.^[1][2][3] The main business at the fair was sheep and horse trading, but as with all rural fairs there were also many other entertainments. The site of the fair was the downland above the Westbury White Horse, a long uphill climb if coming up from the town below, a slow journey if travelling across Salisbury Plain. The breeds of sheep shown and traded included the Hampshire Down, the Southdown, and in earlier days the Wiltshire Horn.

In its heyday the fair rivalled a similar sheep fair held at Wilton. The fair at Westbury benefited from the opening in 1853 of the Westbury railway station on the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, and as Westbury became established as the junction of the Reading to Taunton line with what is now the Wessex Main Line, its transport links improved. However, the Wilton sheep fair also grew during the 19th century, with 40,000 sheep reported at it in 1883, this figure rising to some 95,000 in 1901.^[4]

By the end of the 19th century, it was noticed that the fair caused low attendance at local schools, including that at nearby Dilton Marsh.^[5]

In the early 20th century, the fair began to decline, with only some 20,000 sheep passing through it every year,^[6] and in 1940, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War, the Land Utilisation Survey noted that "Westbury's Sheep Fair today handles less than 10,000 sheep".^[7] By 1945, the fair was no longer being held.

Notes