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Vanity Fair
A fair of every vanity, and a preacher watching from the hedge.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Village common with nothing of the fair left
- Legend from
- Local tradition (date unknown)
- Tone
- Curious
Was this common the real Vanity Fair? Shalford says Bunyan hid here and watched the crowds.
King John granted the parson of Shalford a fair, first held in the church and churchyard. It grew until it was said to cover 140 acres, drawing merchants from across the country, before it was overshadowed by St Catherine's fair nearby. A local tradition says John Bunyan, the Puritan preacher, hid out at a cottage on Shalford Common. The same tradition says the great fair he saw here became Vanity Fair in The Pilgrim's Progress, with the Pilgrims' Way running past as the road to the Celestial City. The VCH records only that Bunyan is 'said to have held a meeting' nearby.