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Home » Neighbourhood and Community » Fairs, markets and commerce » Fairs

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  • Shopping week in Merthyr Tydfil was designed to raise awareness of the town's shops and markets through a series of competitions and fair-like activities. In a full week of events the organising committee judged the best dressed shop window in Merthyr Tydfil, as well as brass bands, sporting events and children's essays. A selection of pages from this programme illustrate these themes.
Extracts from the programme for Merthyr Tydfil's Shopping Week, 1931 [image 1 of 8]
Fair day at Pentraeth, c. 1877
  • Hugh Williams, drover of Tai Duon, Cricieth, writes to his parents from Canterbury or 'Cantrabery' in 1837. He says that he will not be able to return home in time for the All Saints' Day fair as he must wait until the fairs at Canterbury are over. In the meantime, he tells his parents to employ 'Jac bach' until he returns. He will return within the week in the company of John Roberts, Bwlchderwin.
Letter from Hugh Williams, drover of Tai Duon, Cricieth, to his parents from Canterbury, 1837 [image 1 of 2]
  • One of the regular Fair Days or market days held over several hundred years in Newtown, Montgomeryshire. This scene from around 1880, is not particularly busy, but is typical of most market towns of the time with cattle in the street, usually herded by small boys who should have been at school.
Fair Day in Newtown, c. 1880
  • A busy day for trading livestock in High Street, Newtown around 1880. The regular Fair Days took over the main streets in market towns and the hotels and public houses did very good business on market days when the farmers crowded the bars and left young boys to look after their animals.
Fair Day in Newtown, 1880s
  • The horse fair, an important event in the calendar for country towns over the years, slowly died out as motor vehicles and tractors took over. Their days were numbered when this fair was held in Bridge Street, Llanfaes, in 1934.
Brecon horse fair, 1934