The origins of the fair are associated with the sale of 20,000 geese which were driven from the fens to be sold in Nottingham to provide the traditional Michaelmas dish, which is believed to bring luck for the next year. However, rather than selling geese, the event is now celebrated with one of the largest funfairs in the UK, along with many food and goods stalls. The fair runs for ten whole days from today, Friday 30th September to Sunday 9th October. It's huge.
When Nottingham Goose Fair was granted a Charter by King Edward I in 1284 it was actually already in existence. The name Goose Fair was first documented in 1541 in the accounts of the Borough Chamberlain.
As well as being famous for the sale of geese, it was known for its autumn trade and enjoyed a reputation for its high-quality cheese. In 1764 there was a cheese riot due to an increase of a third on the price of cheese compared with the previous year. Outraged punters ransacked the stalls and huge cheeses were rolled down the slopes of Wheeler Gate and Peck Lane. The Mayor’s attempts to calm things down resulted in his dignity being flattened by a 100lb cheese.
The fair also featured a 'Pie Powder Court' dispensing instant justice for on-the-spot offenders.
The
name
comes from the French
pied-poudre - dusty-feet - referring to the
state of the many travellers who arrived.
There is a whole gaggle of Goose Fair songs,
and a few rhymes. One of them sums up the
noisy, cosmopolitan atmosphere:
Twas Goose Fair cracked the merriest
wheeze
Where Babel's babble filled the breeze.
A large goose - called Goosey - appears on a plinth on the Mansfield Road about a week before the fair to remind everyone what’s coming.
There may no longer be geese but the event does boast some unique local foodstuffs, most notably the Nottingham Cock on a Stick - a cockerel-shaped sugar lollipop - and minty mushy peas. But, I assume, not together.
The cocks come in three sizes - small, medium and giant (stop sniggering) and were invented by local man Ben Whitehead at the end of the 19th century. The recipe has passed down through several generations of the same family and, most recently, to 90 year old Ray Brooks who has been selling them since the 1950s but is now looking to retire and pass it on.
Interestingly, only yesterday someone on my local Facebook community group was bemoaning the fact that when she enrolled her child for badminton lessons at a sports venue, she was pulled up by a member of staff for using the word shuttlecock. 'We call them shuttles', said the member of staff. 'We don't want anyone to be offended.'
This is a classic case of over-zealous political correctness. There is nothing even vaguely sexual about the shape or form of a shuttlecock or the origin of the name. The game was originally called battledore and shuttlecock (a battledore being a kind of wooden paddle). It dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries but may have roots in ancient China and other Asian countries. The word 'shuttlecock' refers to the movement of the game - back and forth like the shuttle in a loom (or indeed any kind of shuttle - such as a taxi, train or starship shuttlecraft) - and the fact that it was made from feathers.
A male bird is a cock and there are many species of birds with cock in the name (eg peacock, woodcock etc.). A small tap is a stopcock or bibcock. The part of a plane where the pilots sit is the cockpit. We have cocker spaniels, Cockburn's port (yes I know it's pronounced 'Coburn's'), weathercocks, cocktails, and cocky Cockneys. And there are towns and villages all over the UK with 'cock' in the name (eg Cockfosters, Cockermouth etc.) or which have streets that are similarly be-cocked. There's a Cock Lane just a mile from where I'm sitting right now.
And the various ruling bodies that govern the professional sport call a shuttlecock a shuttlecock (including the International Olympics Committee).
Words are only rude if you choose to see them that way.
Chill out and enjoy your cock on a stick.
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