Page 53 - All About History - Issue 59-17

London’s Lost Frost Fairs

Frost Fairs

The Thames freezing put
many Londoners out of work,
including the city’s watermen

giving off less energy to warm the Earth’s
surface, much of it was being reflected back into
space by great plumes of volcanic ash lingering
in the stratosphere.
While mean annual temperatures dipping by
0.6°C (1.1°F) across the Northern Hemisphere may Thomas Wyke’s illustration of
not sound a lot, it had a dramatic impact. Europe the colourful 1683-84 frost fair
was particularly affected as atmospheric patterns
also blew Arctic air over the continent. Alpine “LOnDOn’s frOsT fairs wErE a
glaciers expanded, obliterating farms and villages
in Switzerland, France and elsewhere; Norse siDE EffEcT Of THE LiTTLE icE agE”
colonies in Greenland collapsed after they were
cut off by sea ice; frequent cold winters and wet Medieval bridge was supported by 19 closely In 1621, the freeze lasted for eight weeks, so the
summers led to crop failures; and North Atlantic packed arches, each boasting large piers known as out-of-work watermen guarded at the water-stairs,
cod fisheries fled south to warmer waters. starlings, and their breakwaters slowed the river charging Londoners who wanted to step on the
However, while the overall trend was towards down, making it more susceptible to freezing. ice. Audaciously, another set of watermen would
the world growing colder from the 14th century Large pieces of ice would also lodge among the then charge them again when they got off on
until the late 17th century, temperatures still arches, gradually blocking them and acting like a the opposite bank.
fluctuated year on year. This meant a frost fair dam, preventing salty seawater to pass up the river With this in mind, the watermen also set up a
on the Thames was not guaranteed each winter that would have otherwise lowered the freezing number of attractions to lure customers onto the
and when it did happen, it might last for weeks point. Whether it was because the frozen river was river. They converted their boats into makeshift
or just a few days. In fact, there were only 24 thickest near the bridge or due to it being in the sleds to carry customers along the ice and sold
known› winters during the Little Ice Age in which heart of the city, it was around this area that the food and drink from tents made of blankets
the portion of the Thames that snakes through city’s frost fairs would generally be held. resting upon crossed oar frames. It is unclear
London was recorded to have frozen over. On if this was the first time the watermen had
only a handful of those occasions was it was thick waTErmEn makE usE Of organised a fair themselves or if they were doing
enough to host a fair so, with few exceptions, the BOOTHs TO gET THEir PEncE as their predecessors had in previous years.
fairs occurred just once in a generation. In 1309, an anonymous chronicler noted that the It wasn’t long before others cashed in. Hackney
The coldest winter in Britain during this time Thames froze at Christmas “and it lasted so long coachmen drove their horses out onto the ice to
was the Great Frost of 1683-84. The Thames froze that people danced in the midst of it near a fire.” compete for custom on the new white highway.
for ten weeks, with ice as thick as 28 centimetres However, the first fair of significance opened Traders set up their own booths and stalls,
(11 inches). Trees split as if hit by lightning and on 21 December 1564 and lasted through to selling goods superior to anything the watermen
boats were crushed by the pressure of the ice. January. Raphael Holinshed recorded boys playing could produce. Soon they had an entire street of
Beyond London, there were reports of solid ice football “as boldlie [sic] there as if it had been on primitive shops on the river.
extending for miles off the coasts of the southern the drie [sic] land”. In 1683, the Watermen’s Company appealed
North Sea, while the ground was frozen to depths The frozen Thames must have been a wondrous to the Court of Aldermen for help. They argued
of 69 centimetres (27 inches) near Manchester and sight, stretching for miles in all directions but that as their guild had been given royal assent to
1.2 metres (4 feet) in Somerset. the seizing up of the city’s main artery also put operate the country’s waterways, they should have
Another factor that contributed specifically many livelihoods at risk. Brewers, bakers and a monopoly on all river trade — including the frost
to the Thames freezing in the capital was the washerwomen all struggled without a source of fairs. While they had their sympathisers, the ethos
building of the Old London Bridge. Finished in running water. However, the worst hit were the of individualism and competition emerging at the
1205, this crossing was the main route to ferry watermen, who transported people along the river close of the 17th century meant the court ruled
people, goods and livestock from the City of in little boats. It’s thought they established the against them. That winter saw the river host one
London to Southwark for 600 years. But this frost fairs out of necessity. of the largest frost fairs on record.

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