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The Jacobean and Georgian frost fair roots of today’s winter wonderlands
The artworks depicting the frost fairs of the 17th and 18th centuries rarely show the dangers of the ice and the economic hardship it brought, particularly to those who could not afford the inflated prices of food and fuel as a result of the freeze, writes CLARE TAYLOR
(L to R) An account of the Frost Fair of 1608, the first frost fair to be called that - printed at London: For Henry Gosson, 1608; The Frost Fair of 1814, painted by Luke Clenell
[(Left) Attributed to Thomas Dekker Dekker at Houghton Library Harvard University/CC]
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SKATING rinks, funfairs and booths serving hot food and drink spring up across many cities in December. But these festivities aren’t a modern phenomenon — they’re rooted in the frost fairs of our past, held on London’s River Thames from the 1600s until 1814.
Frost fairs are associated with the “little ice age” — the long periods of bitter European winters between the 14th and 19th centuries. Although climatic conditions enabled the ice to freeze in a certain way, they weren’t the only part of the story.
Frost fairs presented economic opportunities during times of hardship. Tented encampments sprung up across the River Thames to house the city’s imperative — trade.
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