26 History of Inland Transport 



North, and traders from beyond the Trent came south to 

 buy their hops at Cambridge, taking them back to Yorkshire, 

 Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire and even to 

 Scotland. Of wool, according to the same authority, the 

 quantity disposed of at a single fair would be of the value of 

 ^50,000 or ^60,000. 



In writing on this same Sturbridge fair, Thorold Rogers says, 

 in his " History of Agriculture and Prices " : 



" The concourse must have been a singular medley. Besides 

 the people who poured forth from the great towns . . . there 

 were, beyond doubt, the representatives of many nations 

 collected together to this great mart of medieval commerce. 

 The Jew, expelled from England, had given place to the 

 Lombard exchanger. The Venetian and Genoese merchant 

 came with his precious stock of Eastern produce, his Italian 

 silks and velvets, his store of delicate glass. The Flemish 

 weaver was present with his linens of Liege and Ghent. The 

 Spaniard came with his stock of iron, the Norwegian with his 

 tar and pitch. The Gascon vine-grower was ready to trade 

 in the produce of his vine-yard ; and, more rarely, the richer 

 growths of Spain, and, still more rarely, the vintages of 

 Greece were also supplied. The Hanse towns sent furs and 

 amber, and probably were the channels by which the precious 

 stones of the East were supplied through the markets of 

 Moscow and Novgorod. And perhaps by some of those 

 unknown courses, the history of which is lost, save by the 

 relics which have occasionally been discovered, the porcelain 

 of the farthest East might have been seen in many of the 

 booths. Blakeney, and Colchester, and Lynn, and perhaps 

 Norwich, were filled with foreign vessels, and busy with the 

 transit of various produce ; and Eastern England grew rich 

 under the influence of trade. How keen must have been the 

 interest with which the franklin and bailiff, the one trading 

 on his own account, the other entrusted with his master's 

 produce, witnessed the scene, talked of the wonderful world 

 about them, and discussed the politics of Europe ! 



" To this great fair came, on the other hand, the woolpacks 

 which then formed the riches of England and were the envy 

 of outer nations. The Cornish tin-mine sent its produce. . . . 

 Thither came also salt from the springs of Worcestershire . . . 

 lead from the mines of Derbyshire and iron, either raw or 



