Market Town & Life

The earliest record of a feria, or fair being held in Torrington was run by William Briwer in 1221, at Michaelmas, (September).

1249 Assize Roll records Torrington as ‘Villata de Chepyng Toriton’ which roughly translates to ‘Town of Market Torrington’. So we know there was a market established by at least the mid 13th century, which was obviously legal and recognised by this stage.

A record of 1291 records the town as Magna Toriton (Great Torrington) for the first time.

A document of 1371 records the taxes from the market being bequeathed in a dower payment to Maud, wife of Richard de Merton. In modern money this equates to about 38,000 pounds a year; a very healthy yearly income and representative of considerable wealth in that period. Conversely this shows how much wealth was passing through the town and its market in the 14th century, as the taxes would only represent a fraction of the gross total.

By the 1544 Corporation ‘Charter of Philip And Mary’, decreed Torrington had one official weekly Saturday market and biannual fairs in September and April on the ‘Feast of St Michael the Archangel, and the eve and the morrow after, and the other on the Feast of St George the Martyr, and two days next following, together with the Court of Pipowder during the period of the fairs’.

A fair up until the 20th century was basically the same as a county show nowadays, for trading animals, competing with breeding stock, sale of crafts, social events, semi-religious or regional celebrations. Into the 20th century only the social sides of these events had survived and the important economic intention of these holidays was lost to history.

In James I reign, in 1617, a further charter allowed Torrington to hold a second fair in June, the Feast of St John, as well; hence no doubt the flourishing reputation of Torrington as a centre for livestock sale.

The ‘Shambles’ alongside and behind the town hall was the general location of the butchery and meat market in the medieval and early modern period, Cornmarket Street obviously indicates where the corn was auctioned. By the early 1800s it was clear the scale of the market required a new site and that standards and sanitation meant it needed to be purpose built. The town corporation acquired a rundown medieval inn, the white swan, which sat in a prime location at the south end of the market square. At first they just used the large yard behind for butchery and meat selling, taking the messy market off the street.

 In 1842 the knocked down the inn and built a grand Market House and pannier market behind, with formal spaces for stalls covered by a roof and shops to the front and offices, with an auction space above and viewing gallery. The weekly markets after this date were held in this formal space and the sale and taxation of goods could be more easily controlled to bring revenue in for the borough.

Wednesday had become the day for the cattle market in Torrington by the 19th century and the cattle market moved from the square to New Street, opposite the church and then in the mid 20th century to a site of school lane, only closing in the later 1990s.

George Doe, the famed town councillor and local antiquarian described the cattle market on the street in his memoirs of the 1920s; ‘pandemonium reigned in the street, sometimes a bullock or cow ran amok through the crowd of dealers and others, scattering them in all directions.’

In 1890 part of the Glebe lands, held by the Rector and administered by the church, behind the vicarage along school lane was sold to the Town Corporation for 120 pounds. A new purpose built cattle market was built. The market building was finished in 1892 and held a monthly live animal market, at first officiated by the mayor of the time Mr Henry Slee. The market moved to a larger site across the road in the later 20th century and closed in the 1990s.

The town also developed an agricultural show in the mid and later 19th century, known as the Torrington Agricultural Exhibition, historic photographs of this are held in the heritage museum in the town. The show was held on Town Park an open communal area and in the town square. In 1895 the individual show ended and the Devon County Show went on a touring circuit around the county to major market towns in the late 1890s and early 1900s, including Torrington.

The Fairs Act of 1873 moved the biannual fairs to May and October; by 1924 the second fair had died but the May date was revived, although only for social celebrations and mistakenly combined the event with the medieval Feast of May-day. Until 2020 the Mayfair had run continuously since 1924 and did not even stop for WWII, both 2020 and 2021 were stopped by the Covid-19 pandemic, possibly the last time since the plague a fair had to be curtailed.