How Appleby Horse Fair has attracted Europe’s travellers for more than a century

For decades, the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland has been a hive of horse trading pleasure, when it is visited for a few days in June by travelers from all over Europe.

The Appleby Horse Fair, which begins today in Cumbria, has been a mainstay of the Gypsy calendar since the early 1900s and can trace its origins further back.

But according to local historian Andrew Connell, it does not have its origins in a 1685 charter issued by King James II, as some claim.

But whatever its origin, the scenes of majestic horses pulling carriages and caravans as travelers arrive for this year’s event demonstrate its immense popularity.

Likewise, decades-old photos show how the stock market has barely changed from year to year.

An 1980s depiction of a traveler galloping his horse for onlookers as he seeks to sell it reveals the business element at the heart of the fair: many are there to trade.

Others, of course, are just there to have fun and to meet and mingle, as a shot of a gypsy family around a campfire in the 1930s shows.

In his book, Appleby Gypsy Horse Fair: Mythology, Origins, Evolution and Evaluation, Mr. Connell reveals how the story of the 1685 charter dates back to 1945, when two Appleby councillors, who disliked the fair, tried to fuses.

“There is no evidence, the claim first surfaced in 1945.” Mr Connell told MailOnline.

The fair actually began in 1775, but it wasn’t until more than a century later that it became primarily associated with the Traveler community.

‘It was a trading place for herds and sheep, and of course horses. There’s not much evidence of gypsy relations with them,’ Mr Connell said.

‘The main market was local farmers, who bought and sold sheep and cattle at good prices.

‘It turned into a horse market with the arrival of the railroad when cattle and sheep herding stopped.

By the 1880s, it’s more of a horse trading event. Horse trading had strong associations of gypsy travelers because it was historically easier to own horses without owning land.

‘When it became a horse fair in the 1880s, ties to Gypsy travelers grew stronger as they were the main dealers in horses.

“So by the 1890s, certainly by the 1900s, it’s seen as an occasion where the people who come are largely gypsy and Roma travelers.”

The so-called “trotting” – the running of horses up and down to show them to buyers – began in the inter-war period.

Likewise, the tradition of gypsies and travelers washing their horses in the River Eden dates back to the 20th century.

After the end of World War II, the fair received further impetus as the evolution of transportation made it easier for gypsies and travelers to come from further afield.

The fair has survived successive attempts to close it, including in 1967 when the local government cited poor sanitation.

But the increased turnout has also sparked controversy, with locals complaining of traffic congestion and bad behavior in the past.

A horse that drowned in the Eden while being bathed in 2007 led to an investigation by the RSPCA.

Cumbria Police have struggled in recent years to ensure the safety of the event, as a town of normally around 3,000 people is overwhelmed by up to 30,000 visitors.

Yesterday, travelers began arriving for this year’s event. Many were in traditional caravans, while others were in trailers pulled by their horses.

And this morning horses were seen enjoying a dip in the River Eden.

On Monday, a man, believed to be a traveller, trotted into a pub for the fair on a pony as stunned drinkers watched in bewilderment.

The footage, shot at the Crown and Cushion Pub in Appleby, showed a white pony trotting through the entrance to a bar filled with drinkers.

It is thought that the animal’s owner was hoping for an impromptu sale, so he took it to the pub to show it off.

But the locals were outraged. One onlooker said: ‘You can’t believe the audacity of these people to send a horse at a trot straight into a pub.

“No one blames the landlord, he can’t do anything once his pub has been completely taken over, it’s a mafia government issue and there was nothing he could have done.

“Obviously the horse was being put up for sale and being shown to potential buyers.

“It’s bad enough that the city streets are busy for horse trading without it happening in our pubs.

“Every year we go from a peaceful little town to one overrun with booze-related disorder in the streets that make the place look like a Wild West town.”

Appleby Fair Community Group, set up by residents to oppose the ‘infliction’ of the fair, says numerous concerns have already been raised.

The AFCG reports eggs being thrown at people and passing cars, liquid being thrown at people or sprayed from squirt guns and drunken fighting breaking out in the streets of Appleby and neighboring Kirkby Stephen.

Appleby Primary School is closed on the first full day of the fair following a risk assessment on child safety.

A farmer claims that traveling families have cut open bales of hay to feed horses and a new bar is set to open in a field next to the show grounds despite locals’ objections.