Carlisle Patriot, 12 Jun 1824 - Fairs, Hirings, &c.
Petra Mitchinson
Saturday 12 Jun 1824 (p. 3, col. 5)
FAIRS, HIRINGS, &c.
At Stagshaw Bank fair, on Saturday last, stock of almost every description sold at pretty good prices, and appeared rather on the advance. Two year old steers brought about £7 a head. Sheep sold at a trifling advance. Pigs were numerous and met a good sale. There were few fine horses, but they sold high, and indifferent ones were very numerous, particularly saddle horses, and obtained tolerable prices.
Fat Cattle are at present scarce in the market, on account of the drought; so that stock of that kind, for a few weeks to come, is likely to advance.
Carlisle Whitsun hiring, on Saturday last, was, as usual, very numerously attended—so much so, that for several hours, English street and the Market-place were literally blocked up. The demand for servants of both sexes was good, at higher wages than they have received for many years past—men, from £5 to £8 the half-year; women, from 50s. to £5, and upwards. In the horse-market there was nothing particular done; all the best animals being at Stagshaw-bank: but on the Sands the demand for milch cows was very brisk, at an advanced price; lean cattle did not go off so well: indeed, this description of stock is rather down at present.
The hiring at Egremont on Sunday last was well attended by men and women servants, and the wages of both experienced a considerable advance. The former, who for some time past have received no more than £5 or £5 5s. for the half year, obtained generally, from £7 10s. to £8 8s. for the same period:—good women servants from £5 to £5 5s.
The first Rosley-Hill fair, held on Monday last, was well attended. Large quantities of cattle were on the ground; but only an ordinary show of horses. The doctors differ very essentially in their opinions on the subject. One experienced hand tells us that the fair was a very good, another that it was a very bad one. The truth, probably, as usual in such cases, lies between. We believe we may say that milch cows sold well; store cattle hung on hand, unless the holders chose to submit to a reduction by no means warranted by the general aspect of things; and as to horses, there were not many worth looking at on the ground: the refuse, of course, might have been bought low enough, while serviceable animals were even higher than at Longtown. The second fair, on Monday week, will be the best criterion for judging of the state of the market.
The hiring at Penrith fair, on Whit-Tuesday, was pretty brisk, and in general good wages were obtained. The sale of articles exposed was only dull.
More than a usual number of servants attended Appleby Whitsuntide Fair on Saturday, and very few went away without masters. Good men servants obtained £11, and women from £4 to £6. The lads and lasses never wore merrier faces; much of their attention was devoted to a company of tatterdemallions, whose vocal powers were as attractive to the rural throng as ever was that of CATALANI or BRAHAM to a London audience. One catgut scraper was more particularly fascinating than any of the rest; and his voice was admirably adapted to the sound of his own three stringed fiddle. His favourite ditty was that of "Billye Taylor was a gay young feller." There was many, however, whose lungs gave vent to an equal display of elegant language. "I channels the world, or even the globe, to produce such a piece of muslin as this in all England," bawls out a genuine son of the green isle; whilst the hardwaremen, showmen, and sundry other orators, were equally emulous of being heard above others. The dancing rooms were thronged until a late hour.
At Brampton new fair, near Appleby, on Wednesday last, good horses were sold at very high prices. Cattle sold well, milking cows more especially. A great concourse of well-dressed people attended. The young gentlemen of Appleby School gave a belt to be wrestled for at this fair, with the inscription "Donum scholæ Aballabensis" upon it. WEIGHTMAN, the Cumberland champion, appeared in the ring, but was thrown in the fourth round by a slender young lad called John LOYD, of Dalebanks, near Crosbyravensworth. It is but justice, however, to WEIGHTMAN to say that he was thrown by his own lenity; confident of his own powers he thought of disposing of the young man with great gentleness, but being too careless, he was himself readily thrown. WEIGHTMAN, however, threw two or three of the best Westmorland wrestlers with the greatest ease. There was considerable business done upon the hill on Thursday.
Mardale Fair, at the head of Hawes-water, was held on Monday last, with more than usual glee. The lads and the lasses, old men and old women, girls and boys, nearly all the inhabitants of the neighbouring dales, had assembled on the green, and the leaping had just commenced, when nearly a score of strangers landed from the lake, joined the festive throng, and infused life and vigour into every sport. The prize for leaping was won by Joseph ABBOT—the good-natured, agile Joe, who bore off the cup last year at Eamont-bridge: nothing but a kangaroo could have outsprung him! Seven hounds, brought by the celebrated old John-the-mole-catcher, known to all the country round for his skill and his well-lined purse, ran a-trail, and afforded some fine amusement—the chang of the dogs echoing gloriously among the ever-lasting hills which surround and protect the delightful vale. Next came the wrestling; and great was the sport thereof; and not only great, but novel, for the strangers, and even the King of the dale (Mr. HOLME) entered the lists, and displayed their agility. One amateur threw a noted Hercules—a real Bampton player, and therefore gained immortality at least in Mardale. Other amateurs came not so well off: a sturdy one was laid low by a skilful stripling, who played as if he had practised thrice a-day for at least a year past. But the real fun of the thing for the initiated was to see the amateurs pitted against each other. What pulling and hauling, and piping and growling! One poor gentleman was down'd, as the term is, upon his fishing-tackle box, which he had in his pocket, and received a severe wound both in his hip and his honour;—and another, who looked as if he meant to carry off the belt, lost all his anticipated fame, by an unfortunate separation of his hands in the holdfast, by which, says the law as laid down by the first of authorities, LITT, he was a thrown man; but it was a long time before he could be brought to comprehend that a man might fall, though never off his legs. Finally, the belt was won by one of the Princes of the blood—a son of Mardale's monarch. The sports of the turf were succeeded by the sprightly dance, in an elegant building, splendidly fitted up for the purpose, the floor most tastefully chalked, &c. Here the beauty and agility of Mardale and Swindale, lifted the light fantastic toe, and proved that manly case and feminine grace are found elsewhere than at courts and carnivals. In celebration of the day, there was a brilliant tea-party at Mardale-Hall; and there the strangers assembled and drank to the health of the hospitable host and hostess, out of the far-famed triple cup, hight Corydon, which all who know Mardale, know to have been in the respectable owner's family for upwards of two centuries; it is in truth almost as great a curiosity as the bell of the adjoining chapel. So ended the sports of Mardale on Whit-Monday. The visitors took to their boat, and glided homewards on the soft bosom of the Lake, the "blessed moon," as WORDSWORTH gratefully calls it (for he feels all its glory and usefulness where he resides) shedding its splendour upon the still waters, and giving to the mountains a more than earthly magnificence, while echo fantastically babbled among their recesses, as if in derision of the "beings of a day" who found gratification in disturbing her midnight slumber.