Interestingly, Dames notes when writing about the annual Tan Hill Fair (formerly St Ann's Hill Fair) that took place on Tan Hill in the Vale of Pewsey until the early 1930s that, "...the tradition of 'shepherds coming in former years... at very early hours in the morning, before daylight'. Bretntall adds: 'Business begins there fairly early in the morning, but in the past it began earlier still, and the last use of the pagan bonfire was to guide drovers to the spot before dawn.'"*
Also, from the Wiltshire Gazette of 1823 describing the Tan Hill Fair, "There was full 20,000 sheep penned. Horned cattle including excellent Devonshires and Scots oxen."* And from the same source of 1856, "Two large droves of horses from Wales and Ireland which met customers at £20 and £35 each... We might say that the corn in the valley below seemed to laugh and sing, and will be fitting for the sickle the early part of next week."*
The last sentence from the Wiltshire Gazette is almost a 'pagan' thanksgiving to Ann (mother of Mary, mother of Christ but above all mother of the gods) and The Feast Day of St Ann on the 6 August each year must have been an extraordinary affair. What with 20,000 sheep in 1823, large numbers of horses, cattle, gypsies, vagabonds, local people, zider and beer (and no doubt pigs as well :-) St Ann's Fair must have been the Westcountry gig of the year. Tan (Ann's) Hill is only a short distance from the Ridgeway and only a few miles from Avebury. The last fair took place on Tan Hill on the 6 August 1932, it was then held, interesting, for a few more years in the meadow between the Swallowhead and Silbury before dying out completely.
* The Avebury Cycle by Michael Dames. ISBN 0-500-2788-6-5. Pages 213 & 215.
