Bartholomew Fair
Preserved but no longer current.
A fair held for centuries from its institution in 1133 at Smithfield, London, on St. Bartholomew's Day: after the change of the calendar in 1752 it was held on September 3rd. While it lasted the Fair was the centre of London life; Elizabethan and Restoration playwrights and story-tellers are full of its amusements and dissipations.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Bartholomew Fair” mean?
A fair held for centuries from its institution in 1133 at Smithfield, London, on St. Bartholomew's Day: after the change of the calendar in 1752 it was held on September 3rd. While it lasted the Fair was the centre of London life; Elizabethan and Restoration playwrights and story-tellers are full of its amusements and dissipations.
Is “Bartholomew Fair” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.