Tavistock - Geese, Markets and Music

A few years ago the RSPCB decided that geese didn’t really like playing carnival queens, and now the only live goose you can now buy is in the livestock market in Whitchurch Road.

The origins of the fair began way back in 1105, when Henry I authorised the monks of Tavistock Abbey to hold a weekly Friday market, and 11 years later allowed a three-day fair to be held around the feast day of the town’s patron saint St Rumon, which was on August 30, the approximate date of our present August Bank Holiday. Later the fair was moved to Michaelmas Day, September 29, and when Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 and cut 11 days out of that year, the date moved to October 10, and is now held on the second Wednesday in October.

Why Goosey Fair? It is thought that when the fair started, many of the tenants of the abbey would pay their rents in geese, and the quarter day, when rents were due, fell on Michaelmas Payment in livestock or goods was commonplace in the days without much cash, and certainly without Switch or credit card. These geese would then be sold by the monks at a special marketplace at the fair, when townspeople would buy them for Christmas in good time to fatten them up. Remember the song, Christmas is a coming and the goose is getting fat? Of course, canny medieval entrepreneurs would do an early Alan Sugar, but instead of selling electronic goods would sell their geese off the backs of their carts and would then be able to pocket any surplus cash once the rent had been paid.

The inns in Tavistock obviously saw a good profit to be made and started to serve roast goose dinners. Was this the start of the gastropub? After the dissolution of the monasteries, which began in 1536, no more rent was due to the abbot, and the geese were now sold to the new restaurateurs, having been driven in the night before by breeders, who wanted to gain a prime place in the market. During the mid 1900's the auctioneers would treat all their farmers to a free goose dinner which sometimes would amount to 200 meals.

Nowadays farmers have to buy their own meal, and goose seems to be off the menu as it doesn’t appeal to the modern palate in the same way as chicken, although Ellis Bakery in West Street still serves goose rolls on the day. While the Goosey Fair retains its name, tradition has given way to the funfair, which arrives on the Tuesday evening and stays until the Saturday in the large Bedford Hotel car park alongside the river, with another smaller funfair in Bedford Square in the centre of town. On the Wednesday the town centre is closed to traffic and there are park and ride services because the whole of the Plymouth Road and neighbouring side streets are packed with nearly 300 stalls as traders amass from all over the country to form a huge street market. As a spokesman from the tourist information centre said: “It’s quite a razzamatazz. You can buy anything. A lot of people save all year round and buy everything at the Goose Fair.”

Apart from the Goosey Fair, Tavistock has a pannier market which is one of the largest in Devon and embraces several different themes on the five days it is open, with a changing theme for every Saturday in the month. The first Saturday is styled an Aladdins Cave with charity stalls, antiques and bric a brac; the second, sees a craft market with many different types of Devon craftworks; the third is a mixed market and there is a Victorian market on the fourth. During the week, on Tuesdays you can hunt for more antiques and bric-a-brac, Wednesdays and Thursdays see a mixed market and craftwares, with the original charter market being held on a Friday, where you will find a Women’s Institute stall and organic food, with a special organic meat and a cake stall. For more fresh local produce, visit the Tavistock Farmers’ Market in Bedford Square on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, from 9am to 1pm. Don’t miss The Basket Tree on Fridays and Saturdays outside the market hall by the florist, where you will see wicker creations in all shapes and sizes, which can hold anything from garden tools to cutlery.

If you’re staying at one of the Blue Chip properties near Tavistock and you want a good evening's entertainment, try The Acoustic Café, which holds a charity music night at the Parish Church Centre next to the Bedford Hotel, usually on the fourth Saturday of each month except during August and December. Between eight and 10 local artistes perform for free, with acts ranging from blues singers to classical guitarists, vocal harmony groups to singer-songwriters with the occasional storyteller or juggler thrown in.

If you don’t want to cook before going out, you can enjoy the home-cooked vegetarian dishes at reasonable prices, and finish off with a dessert, or perhaps just snack or a cake with a tea, coffee or fruit juice. You don’t have to buy food and you can even bring your own wine or beer if you want. The proceeds from the door and the raffle are donated to a different local charity or group each month.

Take some time just to wander around this old tin mining town, which was one of the original Devon stannary towns, where tinners from Dartmoor brought their tin to be assayed or checked for quality control. With its independent shops and river running through the town, which was shifted sideways by the Duke of Bedford in 1867 to allow him to build the market hall, it makes for a perfect day out, any time of year.