A horse and cattle fair was held on St Winwaloe’s day at the hamlet of Winnold in Wereham, where there had been a priory of the saint; it is mentioned as early as 1337. After the Dissolution it moved to Wimbotsham and then to a field at Downham called the Howdell, but it kept the name Winnold Fair. West Norfolk had a rhyme for the first three days of March, which are so often wild and windy.
Winnold Fair
3 March · Downham Market, Norfolk
No longer kept
First comes David, next comes Chad, And then comes Winnold as though he was mad
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 2, cols. 283-284. Read the original
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