River Thames frost fairs

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In periods when the British climate was more severe than it is now the River Thames sometimes froze over in the winter. A number of fairs, known as the River Thames frost fairs were held on the river.

One of the earliest accounts of the Thames freezing over comes from A.D. 250 when it was frozen hard for nine weeks. In A.D. 923 the river was open to wheeled traffic for trade and the transport of goods for thirteen weeks; again in 1410, for fourteen. The period from the mid-14th century to the 19th century in Europe has been called the "Little Ice Age" on account of the severity of the climate at the time, especially the severe winters. When the ice was thick enough and lasted long enough, Londoners held a festival on the river. However, the colder climate wasn't the only condition which allowed the major river to freeze over in a city where, in the 21st century, small ponds rarely retain a thin covering of ice all through a winter's day. The Thames was broader and shallower then, as it was yet to be embanked, which meant that it flowed more slowly. Also old London Bridge, which carried a row of houses on either side of its roadway was supported on many closely spaced piers, which acted something like a dam.

The first recorded frost fair didn't happen until 1608, but the Thames had frozen over several times in the 16th century. Henry VIII is said to have traveled all the way from central London to Greenwich by sleigh along the river during the winter of 1536 and Elizabeth I took walks on the ice during the winter of 1564.

The most celebrated frost fair occurred in the winter of 1683-84. John Evelyn described it thus:

"Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from several other stairs too and fro, as in the streets, sleds, sliding with skates, bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, cooks, tippling and other lewd places, so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water."

A printer by the name of Croom sold souvenir cards written with the customer’s name, the date, and the fact that the card was printed on the Thames for six pence, and was said to be making five pounds a day from the enterprise, which was at least ten times a labourer's weekly wage. Even the King bought one. The cold weather was not only a cause for merriment however, as Evelyn went on to explain:

"The fowls, fish and birds, and all our exotic plants and greens universally perishing. Many parks of deer were destroyed, and all sorts of fuel so dear that there were great contributions to keep the poor alive...London, by reason for the excessive coldness of the air hindering the ascent of the smoke, was so filled with the fuliginous steam of the sea-coal... that one could hardly breath.

However the Thames frost fairs were often brief, scarcely commenced before the weather lifted and the people had to retreat from the melting ice. Rapid thaws sometimes caused loss of life and property. In January 1789, melting ice dragged at a ship anchored to a riverside public house, pulling the building down and crushing five people to death.

Between 1400 and the nineteenth century there were a total of 23 documented winters in which the Thames froze over at London (or 25 if you include "more or less frozen over" years which are shown in parentheses): 1408, 1435, 1506, 1514, 1537, 1565, 1595, 1608, 1621, 1635, 1649, 1655, 1663, 1666, 1677, 1684, 1695, 1709, 1716, 1740, (1768), 1776, (1785), 1795 and 1814. (Lamb)

The frost fair of 1814 began on 1 February, and lasted just four days. An elephant was led across the river below Blackfriars Bridge, and a printer named Davis published a book entitled Frostiana; Or a History of the River Thames in a Frozen State. This was to be the last frost fair. The climate was growing milder; also old London Bridge was demolished in 1831, and the river was embanked in stages during the 19th century, both of which made the river less liable to freezing.

[edit] References

• John Evelyn quotations taken from London:Portrait of a City, compiled by Roger Hudson, Folio Society, 1988.
• H. H. Lamb. Climate: Present, past and future. Vol. II (Tables App. V. 6 and 7, p568-570), 1977.
• Nicholas Reed, Frost Fairs on the Frozen Thames pub. Lilburne Press 2002. See www.lilburnepress.co.uk.