Camberwell Fair

Camberwell Fair, held from time immemorial, once began on 9 August and ran for three weeks to St Giles’s Day, with booths in the churchyard until a statute of Edward I forbade fairs in churchyards. By Hone’s day it ran from 18 to 23 August, with Peckham’s fair as its continuation, and there were moves to put it down. Tradition said that King John, hunting at Peckham, killed a stag and was so pleased with his sport that he granted the inhabitants a charter for the fair. It was finally abolished in 1855.