Pack Monday and the horn boys

Sherborne’s great fair was held on the first Monday after 10 October, with cattle, sheep and horses in the fields and shows, stalls and gingerbread in the town. For weeks beforehand boys paraded the streets at night blowing cows’ horns, and at midnight before the fair they marched with horns and lit a straw bonfire, while the great church bell was rung at four in the morning. Local tradition tied the fair to the workmen who packed up their tools when the church was finished. The fair is still held in Sherborne, and the midnight horn-blowing parade survives as Teddy Rowe’s Band.