All The Fun Of The Fair
A feature of prisons in the nineteenth century was their location. Not in the wilds at the edge of town, but in the centre of the community- to act as a deterrent and a warning. Newcastle gaol was organised according to the ‘separate system’, a monastic approach to punishment which, in theory, meant that within the walls ‘the utmost order and quietness’ prevailed. The same cannot be said for the area around the prison in Carliol Square.
Facing the prison were several public houses and the streets would have been busy, especially in the evenings. However, twice a year, the area around the prison became a seething throng of people as the fair came to town. There were three official fairs in Newcastle: Lammas (August), St Luke’s (October), and Martinmas (November). In the first third of the nineteenth century, the August and November fairs were held in the Sandgate, but their popularity led to them becoming a nuisance. In 1837, Newcastle town council voted to relocate the fairs to Carliol Square. There was more space around the prison and the move was welcomed, except by those who lived on the square and in the surrounding streets who did not want the disruption.
The Duke of Wellington Pub 1969. This pub sat directly opposite the entrance to Newcastle Gaol. The large building behind it is still present today and is an apartment complex called 55 Degrees North. Image courtesy of Newcastle libraries.
The fair was no ordinary event, and it continued to expand and by the early 1860s it spilled over into the streets leading to the gaol. It was ‘a sight, once seen, never to be forgotten.’ There were goods to buy from Sheffield and Birmingham, showmen with performing monkeys, wild beast shows, roundabouts, swings, side shows, and fortune tellers. There were drummers and singers, and, in the evening, the whole scene was lit by flaming oil lamps. The fair was New Year, the Hoppings, the mart, and the Quayside market rolled into one.
The newspapers reported that the conduct of some of the sellers was so lewd, and the language they used so inappropriate, that the magistrates should send them to the treadmill in the gaol. The ‘motley gathering … and uninviting persons’, the language, and humour, from the stallholders did not go down well with the ladies! The Newcastle gaoler, Mr Robins, told a Council meeting in 1864 that the shouts and noise from the fair, which carried on until the early hours of the morning, caused discipline problems and disorder.
The proximity of the fair to the prison did not deter bad behaviour. For some, the fun of the fair resulted in a trip to the ‘wrong’ side of the prison wall, and a solitary cell to contemplate their mistakes. Pickpockets, conmen, fraudsters and thieves used the opportunity to ‘frequent the fair for an unlawful purpose’. In 1851, for example, a pickpocket was sentenced to hard labour- the magistrates having turned down his offer to leave Newcastle and never return if he was given 24 hours to do so. His sentence was a stint of hard labour. The next time the fair came around, the thieves could reflect on their conduct, from their thin hammocks, as the sounds and smells of the fair drifted over the gaol wall.
