September 2003
All Along, Down Along
Widecombe Fair is world renowned due to that wonderful folk song of the same title, and is always held on the second Tuesday of September each year, at Widecombe in the Moor, on Dartmoor, in Devon.

This year (2003) it falls on Tuesday 9th September.

But what of the origins of this country institution.... and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

Hard Winters
In many towns and villages on and around Dartmoor the autumn cattle, sheep and pony sales (known as fairs) were - and still are - an important fixture in the agricultural calendar.

Autumn was a time when the moorland farmer had a chance to reduce his stock in readiness for the winter.

"Uncle Tom Cobley" arrives at Widecombe Fair

There were no means of transporting vaste amounts of hay and straw around the country, so farmers were only able to winter the amount of stock they had fodder enough to feed through those long winter days. And those winters were much harsher than they appear to be today.

As well as reducing their stock, they also needed to exchange rams, and even bulls and stallions, to maintain a healthy and vibrant breeding flock or herd.

This would encourage farmers from away and - according to the song - as far away as Spreyton and Copplestone, when Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davey, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawk, and Uncle Tom Cobley and All came to Widecombe Fair to purchase stock, an area where good healthy stock could be obtained.

By taking the stock to the food (straw and hay in the Crediton area being more abundant) made good sense.

The Widecombe Whitefaced Dartmoor Sheep was a speciality breed, local to this district, and were always in demand. They are still considered good breeding stock and excellent mothers.

So over hundreds of years each of these fairs grew - and Widecombe Fair became a very successful market.

A Yard Of Sheep
In 1850 some of the local gentry decided to celebrate the event by holding a dinner after a particularly successful fair.

Widecombe Village

In those days all the livestock were penned and sold on the Village Green - this led to the saying that at Widecombe, sheep were sold 'by the yard', meaning of course the churchyard!

The fair continued uninterrupted until the outbreak of World War II when, in 1939, it was cancelled only to be revived again in 1945.

During those six years the farmers had found other markets to sell their livestock, so Widecombe Fair developed into a show rather than a sale.

Local fields were borrowed for the day, classes for the showing of horses, ponies and sheep were introduced, local sports for adults and children alike were introduced, tug of war contests, gymkhana and much more became the order of the day.

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