1. Early markets and fairs
Many markets and fairs were already flourishing before the date of the earliest surviving records mentioning them. They were held either by virtue of a specific royal grant, usually embodied in a charter, or by prescriptive right based on immemorial custom. In the case of a manor held by the king in demesne, the initiation of a market or fair would not normally be recorded in a charter. Works on local history, particularly the Victoria County History, may be used to establish whether a particular manor was royal demesne at a given date.
2. No register of modern entitlements to hold markets and fairs
There is no simple register, at The National Archives or elsewhere, of persons now entitled to hold markets and fairs. Whilst records may be traced here showing an early royal grant of such rights, they may have no bearing whatever on present day market rights, which have been much affected by modifications or revocations of earlier charters, by grants of new rights (for example in borough charters), by the demise of old jurisdictions (as at the dissolution of the monasteries) and by modern local government reorganisation and boundary changes. The National Archives is unable to offer any advice on the legality or otherwise of present day markets, though it can supply photocopies of earlier grants where the place of the market or fair and date of the grant is specified or can be ascertained. It should be remembered that most grants before 1733 were in Latin and no translations are available. It is rare to find details of the exact site or regulations governing the market or fair.
3. Markets and fairs up to 1516
A list of charters conferring rights over markets and fairs in the period 1 John to 22 Edward IV (1199-1483) was published as Appendix XIX to the First Report of the Royal Commission on Market Rights and Tolls (1889). Summaries of these grants (but not complete translations) can be found in the printed Calendars of Charter Rolls, Close Rolls and Patent Rolls, which are available in major reference libraries as well as at The National Archives. The list of charters, however, is not a complete record of all grants of markets and fairs in the period, because it omits grants made by special jurisdictions (notably the Duchy of Lancaster and the Palatinates of Chester, Durham and Lancaster) and enrolled among their distinct records also preserved at The National Archives.
For the period since 1483 there is no comprehensive list of grants. Grants that could be traced through lists of Inquisitions ad quod damnum and the Brevia Regia and verified from the indexes to the patent rolls, were tabulated in the Appendix to the Final Report of the Royal Commission (1891).
A website entitled Gazetteer of Market and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 gives a detailed account of the evidence available for markets and fairs to 1516.
The following publications also list markets and fairs up to 1516, and are available in the Map and Large Document Reading Room at The National Archives:
Gazetteer of markets and fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (List & Index Society Special Series Vol 32)
Gazetteer of markets and fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (List & Index Society Special Series Vol 33)
4. Clerk of the Market
The control of weights and measures and of market prices - initially for the benefit of the king's household at Westminster or on progress, but by extension also throughout the kingdom - by the Clerk of the Market of the King's Household may be traced in the Various Accounts of the Exchequer (E 101: Marshalsea) and the Estreats (E 137, especially bundle 144/2). This officer's functions in the reigns of Edward IV and Henry VIII are set out in Household Ordinances and Regulations (Society of Antiquaries, 1790) pp.53 and 150. Further information is contained in N. J. Williams, 'Sessions of the Clerk of the Market of the Household in Middlesex' (Trans. London & Midd. Arch. Soc., xix pt.2, pp.1-14). Passing mention is also made in the Calendars of Chancery Rolls and State Papers Domestic, and among the papers of the Lord Steward's Department (for example in the Entry Books of Records, LS 13/168 and following volume).
By Statute 16 Charles I c.19, this officer's function was more firmly restricted to the verge of the household, and subsequently all owners of market rights - lords of manors, mayors and bailiffs, feoffees etc. - were fully liable for maintaining their own correct weights and measures. This remained the case after the Restoration. A few sample indentures of receipts for standard weights and measures from the Exchequer in the late 17th and late 18th centuries are to be found among the Exchequer of Receipt Miscellanea (E 407/88).
5. Modern records
Lists of the places and dates of markets and fairs held in the 18th and 19th centuries were printed in Owen's Book of Fairs, which ran to many editions. Tables of those held in 1792 and 1888 were printed as Appendix XXI to the First Report of the Royal Commission mentioned above. From the mid 19th century, commissions, licences and correspondence may be sought in various classes of Home Office papers (HO 141, HO 152, HO 45), whilst orders to discontinue fairs or alter their appointed days are printed in the London Gazette (available online or at The National Archives in ZJ 1), and can be found in HO 45 under the heading 'Fairs'.
6. Other records in The National Archives
In addition to the enrolments of grants of charters, there are many other documents in The National Archives which shed light on the history of market and fairs. However, since there is no general index to the records it is not possible to identify quickly all papers relating to any particular market or fair.
Most royal grants from the reign of Henry III were preceded by Inquisitions ad quod damnum (C 143) to determine whether they would be prejudicial to any owners of existing rights. From about 1200 a clause protecting such existing rights was inserted in market charters. Alleged abuses of market rights could be investigated in Quo Warranto proceedings (for the period 1278 to 1330, see Placita de Quo Warranto, Record Commission, 1818), but also became the basis of many cases in the central courts at Westminster: not only the Exchequer, King's Bench and Common Pleas, but also prerogative courts such as Star Chamber and the Court of Requests.
A useful introduction to the records of litigation, both at Westminster and in the many courts held at markets and fairs themselves, is contained in C Gross and H Hall, Select Cases Concerning the Law Merchant (Selden Society vols. 23, 46 and 49 for the years 1908, 1929 and 1932). Some surviving records of local courts are among the Court Rolls (SC 6) listed in PRO Lists and Indexes VI; others are deposited in the appropriate local record office. Many incidental references may be found through the indexes in the published calendars of Chancery rolls and State Papers Domestic.
