Ready to be fleeced: the wool trade was once an important part of Croydon’s, and England’s, economy
CROYDON CHRONICLES: For much of the Victorian era, Croydon was a trading centre for Surrey farmers trading one of the products on which the nation’s economy had depended for centuries. But by 1876, all that was about to change. DAVID MORGAN explains
For centuries, Croydon has been defined as a transitional place, a town on the road between London and Brighton, between Lambeth Palace and Canterbury Cathedral.
And for all but the most recent hundred years of Croydon’s history, it also served as a market town, a place where farmers and herdsmen from the Surrey hills and North Downs would drive their stock for sale, or for slaughter.
A place’s history is often to be found in its place names. There’s Drovers Road in South Croydon. Tanfield Road is not so far away, a field where the hides of slaughtered cattle and sheep were left to tan. For centuries, Surrey Street had an alternative name which described its business function: Butchers Row.
And for most of the 19th Century, Surrey sheep farmers would gather in Croydon to barter and bargain for the best price of the by-product from their flocks, the wool.
Thursday July 1 1876 was the date of the last ever Croydon Wool Fair, held in the market room of the King’s Head Hotel. Now long-demolished, the Kings Head stood at the top end of Surrey Street, close to what we know today as Millett’s Corner. There’s a small pizzeria on the site today.
Low-key ending: the Old King’s Head on Surrey Street, long-since demolished
For the farmers who were there that July day 150 years ago, it was all a bit low-key, a disappointing end to a business that had been going for decades.
The quality of the wool offered for sale in 1876 was not as good as it had been. The weather in that early summer had seen periods of intense heat, with little rainfall.
Only one buyer was in attendance, Messrs Ransford and Kay, of Weston Street, Bermondsey.
Owing to the depressed nature of exports, any wool purchased for the overseas trade only realised around 1s 2d per pound. The glory days of the Croydon Wool Fair were over, with very little business being done on fair day.
The business of the fair had taken place in “the Market Room, Catherine Street”, according to the local newspaper, where proof-reading was not a strong point – the address meant a room at the Town Hall on Katharine Street.
Traders then gathered for dinner in the King’s Head from 4pm. The day’s buisness was all done and finished in less than two hours.
The speeches and toasts after the annual meal reflected the sad demise of the Croydon and Surrey wool trade. The chairman, Mr Stacey of Gatton, recalled days gone by when he would have spent thousands of pounds at the wool fair. That year, he had only spent tens of pounds.
Throughout the 1850s and 60s, bills of transaction regularly included purchases of more than a thousand fleeces in one go.
Stacey recalled how he had attended the Wool Fair for 24 or 25 years and although the sales had fallen significantly, he still enjoyed the camaraderie of meeting up with his farmer friends.
Final notice: the local newspaper’s ‘listing’ for the 1876 Croydon Wool Fair
Perceval Brown, the vice-chairman, in replying to a toast about his health given by Mr Ransford, laughed about having to sell his wool at such a cheap price. It wouldn’t be easy to afford a healthy lifestyle!
Both Brown and Ransford hoped that trade would pick up the next year, so that the fair would be continued. Brown said he could have hung on to his fleeces for another year hoping for a penny more from each sale, but he wasn’t optimistic about the future.
One of the toasts was for Mr WM Robinson, the master of the Surrey Staghounds. The sheep farmers saw the relationship between themselves and the hunt as very important and were grateful to Robinson for his role. Robinson was also a distinguished member of the 2nd Surrey Rifle Corps, a Victorian militia based at the Old Barracks on Mitcham Road.
He supported “everything for the advancement of the town of Croydon.”
Peak prices: how the day’s dealings were reported by the local newspaper in 1849
The first newspaper report of a Croydon Wool Fair was in 1838. It was held in the Town Hall, starting at noon on Thursday July 5.
The 1845 report showed how significant the fair had become. The 18 farmers who had brought fleeces to be sold were all named, together with the amounts they were trading. Mr Walter from Coulsdon was the largest single trader, with 1,370 ewe fleeces for sale. Mr Russell from Sanderstead had 360 ewes and wethers, and 350 tegs. A wether is a young castrated male sheep, a teg a female of around 18 months of age which had survived its first winter but which has not had its first lamb.
Other farmers mentioned included Mr Fuller from Addington, Mr Byrom from Coulsdon and Mr Simpson from Caterham.
The 1845 Croydon Wool Fair was again held in the Town Hall, with a dinner to follow in the Crown Inn. Between 30 and 40 gentlemen sat down to dinner. The chairman that year was JW Sutherland, with vice-chair Mr. Ellman.
During the after-dinner speeches, Ellman told the assembled group that he had a friend in Australia who was raising 280,000 sheep, requiring 380,000 acres of land. As there were many other farmers in Australia who had similarly such huge flocks, Ellman told the local farmers that his example was provided in order to give them an idea of what was to come in the future.
Already, Ellman claimed, the price of German wool would be at least a shilling dearer than its current price if it was not for Australian fleeces being exported there.
Business journal: reporting the trade of the Croydon Wool Fair was important for the pricing of the fleeces
A second topic of debate that year was about the transparency of the prices being offered. Mr Weale of Woodgate told the other farmers that he had sold all of his wool. Mr Pym and several other farmers asked what price he was paid. Weale replied that he had sold his wool to Mr Lewis. He was sorry not to answer their price queries directly but it had been a private sale and he did not know if he was at liberty to reveal the detail.
This reply angered many of the farmers. They reminded Weale that the whole point of the Wool Fair was that transactions were made public so that they could know the market price and respond accordingly.
Weale said he would respond to the question of price if the chairman said it was necessary. The chairman said he would do what the majority wanted. He was sure they wouldn’t want to break a confidence. Cue laughter.
Another farmer, Mr Legge, told the chairman that Weale had told him that he wanted 16d per pound for his wool.
With the gathering of farmers unanimous in seeking that all Wool Fair prices should be revealed, Weale gave up any resistance. He told the men that he was able to get 16d (one shilling and four pennies) per pound for his teg wool. For his ewes, the number quoted being 1300, he got 14d. With each fleece selling for the equivalent today of around £11.50, you can understand what big business the wool trade was in Victorian England.
Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, came in for particular praise from the sheep farmers. They were most pleased to see that he wasn’t frittering either his money or his time away on “fashionable pleasure of the age”.
Albert showed “sterling good sense in making agriculture his recreation and study.”
The 1874 fair included the sale of fleeces from 80 long wool hoggets (a sheep aged between one and two years), which were bought for 18d per pound.
Different pubs and hotels were used over the years for the fair’s annual dinner. The 1867 dinner was held in the Greyhound Inn, for example. The King’s Arms was used several times and Mr Budden, the landlord, was praised for his hospitality and tasty fare.
As befitting Croydon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who owned much land in the area, sent wool to the fair. In 1849, William Russell, an agent of the Archbishop, received 11¾d per pound for the wool from the 204 teg fleeces he sold to Mr Powell. If we assume the average fleece weighed 6lb, it means that in today’s money, the Archbishop’s wool will have made more than £10,000.
Over the years farmers came to the Croydon Wool Fair from further afield on the Downs: Beddington, Selsdon, Westerham, Chelsham, Merstham, Warlingham, Bletchingly, Tandridge and Gatton were all registered as areas from where the fleeces originated.
Deep detail: reporting from 1859 included the discussion after dinner of the day’s business
In 1849, there were more than 12,000 fleeces traded at the Croydon Wool Fair. In 1855, about 30,000. But by 1862, the decline had begun, with only 11,000 traded. By the final year in 1876, only around 2,000 were traded.
It was not only cheap Australian imports that killed off the English wool trade, but fashion and technology. By the mid-19th Century, raw cotton, grown on plantations worked by enslaved people in the southern states of America, was being imported and milled in the north of England, a key part of the Industrial Revolution. Cotton clothing was more practical, more popular, and cheaper than woollen clothes.
The first Thursday in July was a Wool Fair day in Croydon for much of the Victorian era. Croydon was in competition with other local towns, especially Epsom, which had its own Wool Fair.
And what of sheep farmers today, who can barely afford to give away their flocks’ fleeces for cheap building insulation. The ghosts of those who once dined out after a busy day’s trading in Croydon would shed a tear or two at such a prospect.
David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Carriage driver yelled ‘Murder!’ in a Victorian road rage episode
- Roll up! Roll up! Enjoy Croydon’s summer fayre, 1920s style
- Biggles and the curious case of the curate from Croydon
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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