St James' Fair

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RUSSIA authentic Antique Times of London Map Large 40x53cm 117 years old - 1895
6 Jan 2012 at 11:19am
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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of London with a mention of St James' Fair:

Market Street and St. James's Market recall the market held "west of the Haymarket, mid-way between Charles and Jermyn Street."

This originated in a fair held in St. James's Fields, before the square was built, and from which Mayfair partly derives its name.

This fair was suppressed on account of disorder in 1651, but revived again, and was not finally stopped until the end of Charles II's reign.

After having been suppressed in the Fields in 1664, it was held in the market.

Strype describes this market as "a large place, with a commodious market-house in the midst filled with butchers' shambles; besides the stalls in the market-place for country butchers, higglers and the like, being a market now grown to great account, and much resorted unto as being served with good provisions."

In a house at the corner of Market Street lived Hannah Lightfoot, said to have been married to King George III when Prince of Wales.

The market belonged to Lord St. Albans, whose name is preserved in St. Albans Place, which ends in a foot-passage leading into Charles Street.

Next: Haymarket