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Book Description

WARD, John Star Inn, Frodingham. [East Yorkshire]. Martinmas Sports. Saturday, Nov. 25, 1876... Tuesday, Nov. 28th... A Ball each evening. Admission 3d. Driffield: Jackson, Steam Printer, 1876. Single sheet, printed on yellow paper.23 x 9 inches, framed and glazed. Following the Black Death and the subsequent shortage of labour, Hiring Fairs were held in the Market Towns of East Yorkshire and elsewhere where agricultural servants would gather in the hope of finding a position for the following year. Local landlords and tradesmen were not slow to take advantage of the number of people in the townsd and villages and would lay on entertainment. John Ward of the Star Inn held a number of competitions. In addition to shooting and foot races, there were prizes for smoking tobacco the quickest, tug of war, best song, best concertina player, etc. Whilst these fairs and entertainments were commonplace for hundreds of years it is rare to see any sort of documentary evidence outside of local newspaper articles.
Author MARTINMAS SPORTS - EAST RIDING
Date 1876

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