The Fairlop Oak Fair

On the first Friday in July a fair grew up round the Fairlop Oak in Hainault Forest, a tree said to measure thirty-six feet round. It began with Daniel Day, a Wapping pump and block maker known as Good Day, who dined under it each year with friends on beans and bacon, the only dish ever served. Crowds, pedlars’ stalls, shows and tumblers followed, and before Day died in 1767 the block makers of Wapping rode out to it in a boat cut from one piece of wood, set on wheels and drawn by six horses. The oak was largely destroyed by fire in 1805.