The Sloe Fair is a
travelling funfair that is held annually on 20 October at Northgate carpark in
Chichester
Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...
, West Sussex. The fair was first held in 1107
[Chichester District Council: 12th–13th century](_blank)
or 1108
after
King Henry I of the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...
granted
Ralph de Luffa,
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...
, the right to hold a fair
for a period of eight days from a date of de Luffa's choosing. The fair was originally chosen to coincide with the Feast of
Saint Faith the
Virgin on 6 October,
a
Gallo-Romano saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
with a strong following in the area,
but in 1207 a license was awarded for the fair to be held several days later, on the Vigil of the
Feast of the Holy Trinity and the eight days thereafter. It is, however, unclear whether the date of the fair was actually changed, and according to records held in the library of
Chichester Cathedral, as late as the 18th Century the
Court of Piepowders that was held on the occasion of the fair took place between the Feast of Saint Faith and the Eve of
Saint Edward the Confessor, on 12 October.
The name "Sloe Fair" is believed to be a reference to a
sloe tree that grew on the original site of the fair, in a field just outside Chichester's North Gate.
In its heyday, the fair attracted traders and visitors from across
Southern England.
Though the specific form of the event has changed over the centuries, the Sloe Fair continues to be held in the modern era. The Sloe Fair was not held during World War II and during the hostilities a
caravan was placed at the site at which the fair is held, to prevent the right to hold a fair from lapsing.
The modern Sloe Fair is organized by the
Showmen's Guild of Great Britain and the main attractions are mechanical fairground rides. In 2009, it was reported in the local press that the Showmens' Guild's right to hold the Sloe Fair stood in the way of proposals to construct a
multi-storey car park on the site of Northgate carpark, where the fair is held.
In 2020 the Sloe Fair was not held for the first time since World War 2 with the exception of a small non-operating ride due to a walk in by appointment COVID-19 test centre being put in the car park.
Notes
{{Reflist
Annual fairs
Chichester