English Markets and Fairs. 
101 
Domesday book only mentions two fairs, and gives no com- 
plete list of existing markets. It appears probable, however, 
that the compilers of that record only took into account any 
sources of revenue accruing to the king, and would consequently 
ignore such institutions as did not possess pecuniary claims on 
their attention. After the Norman Conquest the native British 
fair seems to have been reconstituted on the continental model, 
and it was recognised as a valuable source of revenue to the 
Crown. As foreign trade developed in the reign of the Plan- 
tagenets, the institution of the annual fair rose in importance, 
and during several centuries it filled a not inconsiderable position 
in the commercial life of the country. The fairs were only 
shorn of their serious importance — except for special purposes 
— by the progress of the world, and by the discovery of swift means 
of intercommunication. When the growth of trade progressed 
faster than the improvement of the means of communication, 
the value of fixed centres of periodical exchange was great ; but, 
as the means of communication improved, the great marts of 
Plantagenet, Tudor, and Stuart times have, as Professor Rogers 
observes, “ degenerated into scenes of coarse amusement, and 
after having been granted and protected as the highest and most 
necessary franchises, have been tolerated for the sake of their 
traditions, and are now being generally suppressed as nuisances.” 
Mr. A. J. Ashton, one of the Assistant Commissioners on Market 
Rights and Tolls, after holding thirty-four public inquiries in 
the South and West of England, reported that the fairs are 
decaying all through that part of the country. The cattle fairs, 
he observed, are being spoilt by the cattle markets, and the plea- 
sure fairs are decaying and ought to be stopped. 
The extent to which fairs haYO died out within the present 
century is indicated by a return given as an appendix to the 
report of IMessrs. Elton and Costelloe, which has been already 
referred to. This gives a complete list of fairs existing in 
England and Wales in 1792, according to Owen’s New Book of 
Fairs arranged in counties, and compared in parallel columns 
with the list of fairs published for the year 1888. The summary 
on page 102, compiled from this list, may be interesting as 
showing the relative number of fairs existing in each county at 
the respective dates. 
The extent to which the fairs have died out in some counties 
is startling, as, for instance, in Kent, where 130 have dwindled 
to 13. But it is, perhaps, even more surprising to observe that 
in other counties — though they are not many — the number of 
fairs has actually increased. Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumberland, 
and Cornwall, and one or two of the Welsh counties are chiefly 
