The Auld Lammas Fair and Its History

Details

Location

Ballycastle, Glenravel

Year

1975

Date

Length

14min 23sec

Audio

sound

Format

16mm

colour

Source

Digitised as part of the UTV Archive Partnership Project (ITV, Northern Ireland Screen and PRONI)

Courtesy

Department for Communities, ITV, UTV Archive

Rights Holder

ITV

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

Charlie Whiterspoon explores the history and unique offers of the Auld Lammas Fair in Ballycastle for the programme About Britain.

John McCormick remembers merchants from the Scottish islands coming by sea to sell at the market and a woman shows off some brass pieces for sale from India.

John McKeown from Glenravel, a shepherd who was first hired at the fair at age 13, recalls how sheep and lambs were bought and sold, and Mickey McIlhatton recalls hiring fairs, or "rabbles", where workers were hired for a wage six months at a time.

This clip also features a performance of "Ould Lammas Fair", a ballad about the fair written by Ballycastle resident John Henry Mculey.

The Auld Lammas Fair is held every year on the last Monday and Tuesday of August and began in the 17th century.

 

Credits

 Presented by: Charlie Whiterspoon
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