2-323-967 - www.picturethepast.org.uk/Nottingham City Council /Heritage Images

Goose Fair, Market Place, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1911. The east aspect looking towards the Exchange. The Goose Fair was originally held in Nottingham for 8 days of October, reduced to five days in 1876. The Market Place was filled with stalls, fairground rides, attractions, jugglers and entertainers, and inhabitants of Nottingham, both rich and poor. The name possibly comes from the hundreds of geese which were at one time driven from Lincolnshire and Norfolk to be sold in Nottingham. Goose Fair was first mentioned in the Nottingham Borough Records of 1541, though it was probably in existence much earlier than this. For centuries, Goose Fair was held in the heart of the city on the Market Place in front of the Exchange. It gradually spread to other streets in the vicinity and, with the growth of traffic, there were complaints about congestion and disruption in the city. Eventually, the Goose Fair is held on the Forest Recreation Ground, about a mile north of the Old Market Square.