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The Summer Fete
2000
Pictures of
people who might easily be recognised have had to be withdrawn from
these pages.
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How long there has been an annual summer
fair at Prittlewell is hard to say, mainly because there
are very few written records of the village in early
years.
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But it is recorded that in 1257 the Earl
of Oxford, who held Earls Hall, was given a Grant to hold
a market and a fair at Prittlewell. In those days Grants
were usually given by the Crown to hold weekly markets
and an annual fair.
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In the late 1500s no
market was held at Prittlewell, and it may be that Anne
Boleyn was in some way involved in having the right to
hold the market taken from Prittlewell and given to the
nearby village of Rochford. Whether the annual fair was
still held at Prittlewell is not recorded.
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The oldest part of the
village is clustered around the Church of St Mary -
mainly along what is known locally as East Street and
North Street (Victoria Avenue), and the fairs, if not the
market, were likely held on what is now the church yard.
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From
the 1600s to the middle of the 1800s Prittlewell's annual
fair was one of the great events of the year - except in
1665 when it was cancelled to prevent the spread of
plague. |
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In
the nineteenth century the village fair was held on the
15th and 16th July - until it was again discontinued in
1872 when some influential parishioners, including the
vicar, considered that things were getting out of
control, with all sorts of naughty things going on in the
church yard! |
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Today, the annual fair (or fête) is
organised by the Church of St Mary for the community and
a little order and decorum is now brought to the
proceedings, not to mention a lot of fun!
This year St Mary's Summer Fete raised a net profit of £
2,600.
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