By 1836 there were 13 fairs, several of which were connected with the buying and selling of livestock. Four years earlier 4,600 sheep, 1,220 cows, 300 pigs and 200 horses were brought to a Michaelmas Fair otherwise known as the great hiring fair. The event was the peak of Banbury's trading and recreational year.

Because of its renown, the vast crowds included farmers from the north of England hoping to engage workers and the Army looking for recruits. However most noticeable from the mid-19th century onwards was the growing importance of the pleasure fair.

In 1855 some 20,000 visitors (1851 population of Banbury 8,793) descended on the Thursday. Inevitably this produced a dense mass of people who were drawn especially to the front of the town hall where they discovered Sangers Royal Circus and not far away swinging boats, a shooting gallery, peep shows and more than 100 nut stalls. It's small wonder that the Banbury Guardian of the day claimed "a tolerable picture of our Michaelmas Fair was the usual din of music, hooting, bawling, singing, laughing and firing".

Before leaving the fair most people would have bought a fairing, a souvenir of the occasion. In many cases this was a bag of Banbury Cakes so making the occasion profitable for tradesmen. One Banbury baker spent £10 on currants and could have sold more than £5 worth on the Thursday alone.

The fair of 1856 attracted a similar number of people so that '"at certain points in the Market Place and Cow Fair (area in front of the town hall] the thronging was terrific".

Up to 3,000 of the visitors had come courtesy of the Great Western Railway. Those who were farmers could take advantage of an above average supply of cattle and horses but employers of labour found fewer potential servants, possibly due to the increasing role of register offices.

Pleasure seekers were spoilt for choice with three theatres, a circus and various peep shows but could end up poorer than when they arrived because of the activities of pick pockets. The police thought they had done a good job by driving them under the cover of public houses. However it was not long before six or so empty purses were found at the Great Western railway station.

The Banbury Guardian report on the 1857 fair contrasted the advantages and disadvantages of it coming to town. On the plus side sales of Banbury Cakes were as good as ever but the paper queried any other benefits to the town, choosing to remark especially about 'the amount of immorality, drunkenness and crime which prevails during fair week and happily has no parallel the whole year through'.

During the 20th century the fair appears not to have happened during the two world wars but to have been revived once hostilities ceased, though crowds were not comparable with those of the 1850s. In 1919 those who did attend found a fair short of its main attractions.

The centre of Market Place was occupied by various small amusements rather than the likes of Mr Collins's roundabouts. However the short walk to the Cow Fair revealed Wilson's brilliantly lit switchback railway and for fortune telling services there was a veritable army of character readers and palmists.

Fourteen years later clairvoyants targeted Banbury because the like of such people had been banned from St Giles Fair in Oxford.

Overall and since the end of the First World War, the fair had grown substantially in size. In the view of William Wilson, the owner, it was one of the best and only outmatched for scale by Mitcham and Nottingham. Possibly a key reason for this impression was that there were several technical changes evident. Electric lights had replaced the noisy flaring naphtha lamps. In place of the steam organ there were amplified gramophones.

Another development was the revival of exhibition booths, which had declined prior to that time. In particular there were displays of unusual human beings and animals.

On the eve of the Second World War agreement was reached between Banbury Borough Council and the fair owners whereby shows and stalls could get into town earlier than the usual noon on Wednesday. Despite this opportunity some attractions did not make it to Banbury until evening as they had been at Stratford Mop.

New in 1938 was an aeroplane version of the roundabouts and the 'Waltonian' whereby patrons manipulated levers over a revolving disk bearing watches and other articles. The object was to isolate items that were then prizes.

Boxing booths appeared again after a period of several years absence but wild beast shows once prominent now featured minor animals only. What had disappeared was the likes of Alf Ball's show that had been displaced by the regular cinema.

In 1945 those who went to the fair found that many of the pre-war attractions were still present. As of old the Market Place and Cow Fair offered space for the larger amusements and patrons found the radio cars, dodgems and speedways.

This year's fair promises an alcohol free event and in all probability a greater than ever emphasis on sophistication and high technology.

I am sure there will be many people, showmen and patrons alike who will hope for the modern equivalent of a Banbury Guardian expression of 1856 when they wrote "there must be something more formidable however than the aqueous appearance of the clouds or the thick coating of mud on the roads to prevent the inhabitants of the surrounding district from visiting Banbury Fair".

POPULAR EVENT: Crowds at Banbury Fair, above and left, in the early 20th century. The picture, left, was taken in 1910 and two of the attractions can be seen – the Cake Walk and Haunted Castle
All pictures courtesy of Oxfordshire Photographic Archive