Mop Fair, 1920s

Cirencester held an annual hiring fair as early as the 1700s .Prospective workers would gather in the street or market place, often sporting some sort of badge or tool to denote their speciality. Shepherds held a crook or a tuft of wool, cowmen brought wisps of straw, dairymaids carried a milking stool or pail and housemaids held brooms or mops; this is why some hiring fairs were known as mop fairs. Employers would look them over and, if they were thought fit, hire them for the coming year. These fairs attracted all the other trappings of a fair, and they turned into major feasts in their own right.