Stow on the Wold Hotels and Guest Houses

Stow-on-the-Wold is located in England's Gloucestershire county. It is set at the top of a hill that is more than eight hundred feet tall where several main roads that go through Cotwolds connect including Fosse War. It was set up originally by Norman lords to be a planned market place because they want to get full use of the road connections. Since 1330 there have been grand fairs held there by royal charter and there is still a yearly horse fair put on near the edge of the town.

Also in 1330 there was a seven day market established by Edward III that is put on in August. Then in 1476 Edward IV replaced it with two five day fairs that were held two days before and after the feast of St Philip and St James that take place in May plus the feast of St. Edward the Confessor in October. The point of the fairs was to give Stow a place to trade and to help with the passing trade that was unpredictable. The fairs were held in the town square in the center of town.

When the fame of the towns fairs grew so did its importance and wealth. Those traders who previously only had livestock now carried an assortment of handmade goods. The wool trade continued to dominate the trading. It is believed that some twenty thousand sheep were traded at a fair in the 19th Century. There are a great deal of alleys that were once used to heard the sheep to the marketplace. When the trade of wool went down it was switched to horses which were sold at each fair. This is something that still goes on today in modern time. The fair has since been moved to a large field close to Maugersbury village instead of the town square but is still held each May and October. The road around stow become congested and blocked for hours during the fair because of its popularity.

The massive amount of people coming to the fair as well as the traders has brought in vendors who are not dealing with horses which has lead to some controversy for the Stow Fair. It used to be that the local businesses would see more revenue because of the fairs but now many that are with in two or three miles of the fair actually close during it because they fear they will be robbed or vandalized in some way.

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