Known variously as ‘Stagey Bank’, ‘Stagsy Bank’ or just
plain old Stagshaw Bank Fair, the regular social gatherings at this now lonely
spot between Corbridge and the Roman Wall were once the largest of their kind
in England. They were pretty wild, too, and were eventually banned in the early
twentieth century due to the often riotous behaviour which blighted the
occasions.
Though it seems an unlikely spot for a get-together today,
the venue was ideally placed in days of yore. Yards from the crossroads of the
Roman Wall and Dere Street, it was a natural focal point for folk to meet; and
meet they did – in their thousands – for several market days over the calendar
year. In early May there would be a cattle and sheep market; Whitsun would be a
time for horses and cattle; there would a sheep-only fair in early August;
followed by another cattle and sheep fair in late September; then yet another
market in late November. But the main gathering by far would be the summer
event on 4th July, which would be a true national gathering – not
only for agricultural animals and produce but for, well, pretty much everything
else, too!
In view of the antiquity of the site in terms of social
comings and goings it is very likely that the roots of the fair go way back –
perhaps as far as the days of the Romans, when trade would probably have been
conducted between visitors from both sides of the Wall. Little is known of the
event’s distant history, but an account from c.1850
of the 4th July gathering amounts to a description of a
free-for-all, with the morning being, generally, for business of all kinds (not
just agricultural), and the rest of the day – and the evening, in fact – kept
aside for social revelry. There would be entertainment, gambling and much
drinking … with a considerable mess being left thereabouts afterwards.
A combination of Stagshaw Bank Fair’s rowdiness and general
untidiness led to the whole sorry affair being outlawed in the 1920s. But such
is the memory of the main Summer fair that the phrase ‘It’s like Stagey Bank
Fair in here’ is often still used by the older generation to describe, say, a
messy child’s bedroom or any generally pandemonious situation.
As a nod to the tradition of the old fair the modern-day
agricultural Northumberland County Show is often held in the fields near
Corbridge.
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ReplyDeleteMy nana used the expression "it's like.
ReplyDeleteStagey bank fair in here".
I left school in 1974 and went to work on a farm in mid Northumberland. The farm foreman was called Walter and he had grown up on his family's farm on the edge of Stagshaw Common. He told me that the gypsies always camped on the Common when he was a boy in the 1930's.He also mentioned the fact that there were a clutch of Scots Pines at the farm entrance.
25 years later I took the tenancy of a farm in Cheshire and at the end of the drive was a clutch of Scots Pines, which I now know was to signify the availability of lairage for cattle, the farm being on the main drove road between North Wales and Nantwich.
I also am now aware of the great fairs held on Stagshaw Common