There
have been various posts about the markets and fairs of Angus on this blog
(listed at the bottom of this piece). The last of which tried to map out
the year by listing those events of this type which happened in each
locality. However dates of fairs and markets were fluid over the course
of decades and centuries and the size and form of markets also grew in the 16th
and 17th centuries. Dundee’s
market in this period had to shift locations, as the burgh records notes,
because of congestion from:
all cramers, chepmen and
merchants - baith neighbours and strangers handling merchandise and small
cramerie wares - whause to stand in the mercat with tents and crames, come to
the kirkyard, on the south side of Our Lady Kirk, and big their stands and
tents there . . .
The resurgence of crime in Victorian Dundee was strongly linked with fairs and markets. In 1862 a group of some 40 ratepayers complained about the lawlessness of these markets. The Bishop of Brechin, Alexander Forbes, also highlighted the degeneracy of the events and advocated the banning of street amusements in Dundee, something which had already happened in Glasgow. He highlighted the dangers of drunkenness and prostitution on impressionable young people attending fairs and markets.
The Rood Fair, Montrose
There was
fierce competition between merchants over having the prime spot or pitch, as
noted by the 18th century Montrose poet David Morison in his note to
his poem ‘The Rood Fair’ (published in Montrose, Poems Chiefly in the
Scottish Dialect, 1790):
It was the custom in Montrose
till within these few years past, for travelling merchants convene on the
street, or in some convenient place, the day before the fair; after arranging
themselves three men deep, each exerting his whole strength, by pushing against
one another, for the choice of their place (the weakest always got the
worst). But that foolish custom is now laid aside, and in its place is
substituted the drawing of tickets.
A few stanzas of his poem give some idea
about the atmosphere of the fair, which had its roots in medieval times, as it
was before the 19th century:
Was there in Scotland even see
Sic fairin' an' sic' rantin',
Sin' Allan's Christ's-kirk on the green,
A tale he weel might vaunt on,
'Till in Mon'ross there did convene,
A core baith blyth an' wanton,
When lads an' lasses neat an' clean,
Came to the Rood Fair jauntin
Fu' blyth that day.
Lat's view the day before th Fair;
When chapman-lads do trot in,
And on the causeway pushin' fair,
To birze out the Red Rotten;
Wi' back to side they push, they swear,
While gauments far are shot in
To keep their place, till dirt besmear,
And rotten eggs play shot in
Their lugs that day.
Mercantile Skulduggery at Fairs
and Markets
Herbert
Maxwell's history of Dundee gives a fair amount of coverage of the humdrum
detail regulating the burgh's fairs and markets, but also some interesting
material about disorder, crookedness and occasional violence. Here he
explains that the authorities had to be watchful about stolen produce being
peddled in the town:
In the border land between the highlands and lowlands, within passes difficult of access, and almost beyond the jurisdiction of law, there were convenient haunts for cattle lifters, who often stole with impunity, and were able to dispose of their spoil in neighbouring borrows-towns. This nefarious traffic had been carried on in Dundee.
[October 5, 1562]:
'It is notourlie knawn that diverse persons in the country and
to landward, theftously steal sheep, kye, and oxen, and bring the
bouks [carcasses] thereof to sell in the market, and for concealing
and colouring their theft, leave behind them at hame the skins, hides, and
heads thereof, so that the marks of the samin can nocht be knawn, and the
awners thereof restorit to their awn.'
The Council resolved to suppress
this, and for remedy they 'ordanit that na person bringing flesh to sell,
presume fra this day furth to bring ony bulks of sheep, kye, or oxen without
the samin have with them and ilk ane of them the skin, hide, and head presentit
also, under the pain of confiscation of all flesh brocht be them wanting the
skins and heads.' Objection had likewise been made to keeping cattle alive in
the town; and it was enacted 'that sheep shall not be transportit furth,
but be slain and presentit to the public market ;" and again, that no one
"shall buy ony sheep or cattle coming alive, but shall lat the awner slay
the samen' and sell them 'to the king's lieges'—the purpose of this being to
secure the animals for the use of the town by rendering them incapable of being
driven off elsewhere. [The History of Old Dundee, Dundee, 1884, p. 55.]
Five years after that ruling there was an ordinance in Dundee banning the
selling of birds at market devoid of head, feet and feathers. 'Naked'
fowls might often be unidentifiable and were often feared to be stolen.
Violence At The Dundee Fairs
The right of the hereditary constables of
Dundee - the Scrymgeours - to have jurisdiction over Dundee's fairs was
frequently disputed. But the fact of frequent disorder at the events was
another factor which argued that some authority had to be maintained.
Whether the Scrymgeours misused their influence, or were thought to do so, is
also open to question. Four brothers from Tealing named Maxwell were at
Dundee fair in August 1580 when they allegedly witnessed their cousin Walter
Arnot being assaulted by the uncle of the constable, James Scrymgeour.
They rescued Walter but were challenged to surrender him to the authorities
several days later, which suggests that he was being accused of some criminal
activity.
The ancient St James’ Fair at Forfar used to
last for ten days, from 20th to the 30th of July, but had
dwindled to a single day by the late Victorian period. There must have been a history of disorder at
this mercantile gathering also, for in 1652 a warrant was issued empowering the
magistrate of Forfar ‘to arme with halberts twenty-foure men during the time of
the faire, for keeping the peace, and collecting the customs thereof.’
Competition and Trade at Brechin
Roger Leitch has looked at the struggles of
the smaller burghs, such as Brechin, to maintain their markets in the face of
competition both from other markets and from itinerant merchants such as
packmen who were able to undercut the traditional traders at the established
markets.* Brechin’s economy was noted as
declining in the 1680s and even several decades earlier native merchants
complained to the council about what they regarded as illegal competition from
chapmen ‘who retail and buy all sorts of staple goods such as lint
hemp iron
tobacco salt serp and yarn, whereby they detain the country people from coming
into the burgh to buy such commodities from us . . .'
Remoteness from ports and competition from
the Laird of Edzell’s weekly market at the St Lawrence Fair in the Mearns also
damaged livelihoods in the town. There
was also an illegal market nearby every week near the North Water Bridge, in
the parish of Dun.
(* 'Here chapman billies tak their stand: a
pilot study of Scottish chapmen, packmen and pedlars’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland, 120 (1990), 173-188.)
Previous Posts on Fairs and
Markets
Latter Day Angus Fairs
and Markets (from the Arbroath Directory, 1926)
Fairs and Markets in 1846
(from the Angus and Mearns Directory)
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