Great facilities are afforded to internal commerce in England by the establishment of fairs and markets for the sale of commodities of every description. The institution of fairs is not peculiar to England, although in this country, both fairs and markets have met with great encouragement. They were established for the better regulation of trade and commerce, and also for the convenience of the king's subjects; and not only for natives but for foreigners, to obtain supplies of every kind. The king is the sole judge where fairs and markets ought to be kept; and, therefore, if be grant a market to be established in a place, which happens not to be convenient for the country, yet the subjects can go to no other; and if they do, the owner of the vill where they meet is liable to an action at the suit of the grantee of the market. The law forbids the holding of markets and fairs on Sundays, and the solemn holidays, and declares that they shall not be kept open beyond the time specified in their charters, on pain of forfeiting double the value of the things sold. The grant of a fair or market, includes, without express words, the right of establishing a court of pie-poudré, and of appointing a clerk of the market, who is to receive reasonable fees for marking, and allowing weights and measures. These meetings, or fairs, are in no danger of being abolished: a customary, though not necessarily attendant circumstance, is the exhibition of plays, drolls, rarities, and a general merriment, which render them the delight of the people about the towns and villages; and establishments so popular, and so productive of honest joy, will never be discountenanced by a wise legislature, although some excesses might be restricted by a vigilant magistracy.
The following Is a List of the FAIRS or "Markets" held in London, or within ten miles of it:--
| When Holden | Days of Duration |
| Easter | Greenwich | 3 |
| " | Stepney | 3 |
| " " | Battersea | 3 |
| " | Tothill Fields | 3 |
| Whitsuntide | Greenwich | 3 |
| " | Stepney | 3 |
| " | Tothill Fields, (nearly extinct) | 3 |
| " | Bow | 3 |
| Week after May 1 | Detford | 1 |
| " | Brook Green, Hammersmith | 3 |
| " | Yorkshire Stingo | 1 |
| 2d or 3d | Walthamstow | 1 |
| " | Brentford | 3 |
| " | Ham Common | 3 |
| Holy Thursday | Twickenham | 2 |
| June 24th | Ealing Green | 3 |
| July 1st | Wandsworth | 3 |
| Monday after | Isleworth | 2 |
| July 15th | Chiswick | 3 |
| " 26th | West End, Hampstead | 3 |
| August 5th | Bromley | 2 |
| " 12th | Mitcham | 3 |
| " 17th | Parson's Green | 3 |
| " 18th | Camberwell | 3 |
| " 21st | Peckham | 3 |
| September 3d | Bartholomew | 4 |
| " 14th | Edmonton | 3 |
| " 14th | Black Horse Fair, near Shoreditch | 3 |
| " 23d | Enfield | 2 |
| " 25th | Walthamstow | 2 |
| " 27th | Northall | 1 |
| " 29th | Twickenham | 2 |
| October 2d | Croydon | 3 |
| " 18th | Charlton, Horn Fair | 3 |
As already stated, most of these have now become places of amusement; but several of them are still directed to the original objects of their establishment.
Source: Leigh's New Picture of London. Printed for Samuel Leigh, 18, Strand;
by W. Clowes, Northumberland Court. 1819