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"We, Henry The Third of England, in this year of grace Twelve Hundred and Forty Eight, grant to you, our loyal servant Robert, son of Payne, Lord of the Manor of Witheridge (and your heirs) A Fair, to be held annually on the Eve, Day and Morrow of the Feast of St John the Baptist." M (Charter) Wed; gr 4 Nov 1248, by K Hen III to Robert son of Payn (CChR, 1226-57 p.336) To be held at the Manor. Usually a market was held once a week, on a set day. In the case of Witheridge this was a Wednesday. Normally only the most significant urban centres could sustain a market on more than one day per week. Before c.1200 many markets were held on Sunday. This being the day when people gathered together to worship and it seemed the habit of holding a Sunday market developed out of these regular assemblies. Markets were held at a set place: obviously it was important that buyers and sellers knew where to turn up. Older Sunday markets were often held in and around churchyards, conveniently near the church. During the early thirteenth century there was a movement against these Sunday markets and against trading in cemeteries. A fair was held once a year and was almost always associated with a religious festival, generally a saint's day. The date of the fair was expressed in terms of that feast. Thus in 1248, Robert son of Payn was granted a fair at Witheridge Devonshire, to be held on the Nativity of John the Baptist; this feast is celebrated on 24 June. F (Charter) vfm, Nativity of John the Baptist (24 Jun); gr 4 Nov 1248, by K Hen III to Robert son of Payn. (CChR, 1226-57, p. 336) To be held at the Manor. Many fairs were held over several consecutive days, although they were still defined in terms of one particular saint's feast, perhaps beginning the day before the feast (known as the vigil or the eve) or lasting until the day after the feast (known as the morrow) A fair might be held for anything from one day to several weeks, but from the thirteenth century onwards, many seem to have lasted just two or three days, typically on the vigil, feast and morrow of a particular saint's day. In addition, a small number of grants expressed the dates of fairs by the day of the month. Like a market, a fair was normally held at a set place where there was space for large gatherings of people and animals. 
After the Norman Conquest, it is clear that the right to grant markets and fairs was considered to be a Royal Franchise, although this does not appear to have been comprehensively asserted until around 1200. Markets and fairs over this period acquired increasingly clear identities as institutions, as well as being places and occasions where trade took place. In England a model for market practice was provided by the customs followed at the divers markets belonging to the king, which in a precept issued between 1156 and 1171 Henry II stated were to be employed at the market of the monks of St Neots Priory. By their grants monarchs conveyed the right to hold and to control these events and to collect from them revenues, including tolls and the profits of jurisdiction, which otherwise they could have claimed themselves. Nearly all grants were hereditary, that is they were made to the grantee and his heirs, or to the grantees and their heirs, or to an ecclesiastical grantee and his or its successors. In England it also became the practice to make such grants on condition that the new market or fair did not interfere with an existing one, thus giving the Crown some powers of regulation after a grant had been made. From long before the Norman Conquest, however, English monarchs had received tolls and related revenues, and occasionally granted others the right to receive them. Sometimes such grants refer to places or institutions, defined by the term cyping, which seem very like the later markets, although they were presumably less clearly defined and may have included seasonal as well as weekly trading assemblies. In England royal grants of markets and fairs in something like the precise sense of those terms that prevailed in the thirteenth century and later are known to have been made from soon after the Norman Conquest onwards, although they are systematically recorded only from 1199. Generally, these grants from the king took the form of charters. Many markets and fairs certainly existed before the period of recorded grants: these were held by custom and are described as prescriptive. By the 14th Century, with the horse providing not only the quickest means of travel, but also the most effective method of transportation of goods, along with its widespread use on the land, there were millions of horses in England. This led to the growth of the horse market, or Horse Fair as they were commonly known, and dealing with work horses, 'soldiers', which were horses for the Army, and carriage horses and fine ponies. Witheridge Fair, and more specifically its April fairs, became popular for its horse sales, with householders often needing to barricade their homes against invasion by these animals, as they were driven, like cattle and sheep, via Lapford Station to other parts of Devon and beyond. Many of the original customs of the Charter Fair fell by the wayside around this time with the June Fair celebrated simply as a Great Market. In 1887, Bostocks famous Royal Menagerie visited Witheridge Fair. This enticing exhibition of wild beasts, which included lions, tigers, wolves, elephants, camels, monkeys, and many other animals, was one of a number of travelling menageries, which, in the nineteenth century were travelling the length and breath of these islands showing their exhibits. For many, they gave a natural history lesson, and it is said that Menagerie owners considered themselves as teachers of the crowds," for had it not been for them, people would not have known of wild animals." The right to be called Royal was granted after Queen Victoria called the menagerie perform for her at Windsor. The Fair, traditionally based around the village square, had stalls and rides, and started with the reading of a copy of the original Fair Charter, continued right up to the early 1930s when is was discontinued. However in 1991, thanks largely to the efforts of Peggy Miles who researched the Fair history back to its Fitzpaine origins, the Fair returned, and it is now the climax of a weeklong series of events, and, as part of the Fair, Witheridge is now the host to the Official Devon Town Criers Championship.
This entry begins with the standard information, providing grid references to Witheridge and evidence that it was a Borough in 1499, with a reference to the source of information regarding the borough. The value of Witheridge in the 1334 lay subsidy is also given. WITHERIDGE 2803 1146: Borough 1499 (BF, p. 101). 1334 Subsidy £42.25 M (Charter) Wed; gr 4 Nov 1248, by K Hen III to Robert son of Payn (CChR, 1226-57 p.336) To be held at the Manor. F (Charter) vfm, Nativity of John the Baptist (24 Jun); gr 4 Nov 1248, by K Hen III to Robert son of Payn. (CChR, 1226-57, p. 336) To be held at the Manor. Abbreviations B.F.M. Beresford and H.R.P. Finberg, English Medieval Boroughs: a hand list (London, 1973) CChR Calendar of Charter Rolls (1226-1516) 6 vols. (London, 1903-27) Previous 
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