Knott Mill Fair, Manchester, 1849

Knott Mill Fair, Manchester, 1849
THE STALLS AND TOLLAGE AT KNOTT MILL-FAIR - Though the shows and exhibitions at this fair, with one or two exceptions, are of a very indifferent character, there seems to be a very large number of stalls, not only in Liverpool Road and other avenues to Camp Field, the legitimate site of the fair, but also lining and narrowing the already too narrow thoroughfare of Deansgate, for a considerable distance, on both sides of the carriage way, from Liverpool Road to St. John's Street.

The fair, on Monday, as we learn from returns to the markets' committee, had no fewer than 509 stalls, paying a tollage for the day - so much per square foot or yard - amounting in the aggregate, to £22.12s.2d. On Tuesday, there were not quite so many stalls, the total number being 446; and the aggregate tolls £16.8s. 7d, an average of rather more that 10 ½ d. on each stall. On Wednesday, the number of stalls was further diminished to 402; the tolls to £15.12s.8 ½ d. On Thursday, there was a reduction in stalls to 259; of the tolls to £11. 10s. 2 ½ d.

As we stated in our last, the attendance at the fair was small compared to former years; and it seems clear that some 60 stall-keepers, after the experiment of Monday, did not think the remuneration sufficient to occupy the ground again on Tuesday; on Wednesday, the decrease was 44 more; on Thursday, a further falling of 43; so that there were 150 more stalls on the first than on the fourth day of the fair….

The Manchester Guardian: April 14th 1849 7/1

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