2-480-454 - The London Archives (City of London)/Heritage Images

View of the River Thames during the 1683-1684 frost fair, London, 1716. Eating, drinking and entertainment booths can be seen stretching across the ice. Figures travel by horse-drawn coach, skates, boats with wheels and boats transformed into sledges. The item has been divided into 45 playing cards with instructions in the margins. Winters in Britain were often particularly cold in the 17th and 18th centuries, a period known as the 'Little Ice Age'. These impromptu fairs, offering a wide variety of amusements, occurred in winters severe enough for the waters of the Thames to freeze over. The first was held in 1607, and the last in 1814, since when higher temperatures have meant that the Thames has never frozen over.