Villagers close roads and batten down the hatches as hundreds of travellers arrive for traditional 750-year-old horse fair

Residents of a sleepy Hampshire village have battened down the hatches as hundreds of travellers arrived for an annual horse fair which dates back 750 years. 

The Wickham Horse Fair sees scores of Gypsy and Roma travellers descend on the quiet village, home to just 2,000 people, every year on May 20. 

On what is a day of trading, the groups buy and sell horses and ponies while parading animals through streets lined with large crowds of fairgoers. 

The event traces its origins back to the 13th century, when Roger De Syres obtained a royal charter from King Henry III to have a weekly market in the village centre.

But it has more recently faced criticism over the travellers’ treatment of animals, with some horses put down after racing at the event. 

Groups began to arrive on Wednesday morning with dozens of horses, ponies and dogs filling up the closed-off streets of Wickham. 

Images showed youngsters rolling into the village on horseback while others arrived on carriages being dragged by ponies. 

Fairgoers were later spotted carrying whips as they marched their animals around, while one little boy jogged through the village square leading a baby pony on a lead. 

Hundreds of travellers have descended on a sleepy Hampshire village for the annual Wickham Horse Fair (A boy is pictured running along a closed street with a pony)

The event, which traces its origins back 750 years, sees the groups buy, sell and trade horses and ponies while taking part in parades

The village of Wickham, home to just 2,000 people, is brought to a standstill with a number of main roads set to remain closed until Thursday morning

Dozens of horses lined the streets this morning, where temporary stalls and fun fairs have been installed ready for the event

Two travellers are pictured riding a pony-and-trap as the event got underway

Some travellers arrived on horseback, with one tracksuit-clad youngster pictured riding in preparation for the parade

Some of the the village’s busiest roads are to remain closed until Thursday morning, the local council warned, despite the fair finishing at around 6 this evening. 

The A334 between Blind Lane and Titchfield Lane, A32 and busy Fareham and Winchester Roads are just a few of the routes which have been shut, while a number of popular bus routes have also been diverted. 

Nearly all of the village’s businesses were closed on Wednesday, apart from a chip shop and a pastry store. 

Yet Vicky Herbert, the 45-year-old owner of Pirate Pastries, insisted the fair is ‘100 per cent’ a positive for business. 

She told the Daily Mail: ‘We have been here nearly two years and I live next door so I am very local. I was here and just thought let’s open next year. Let’s give it a go.

‘I ventured out last year and thought yeah let’s sell pasties, everyone needs a hot pastie. So we are open, and everyone is friendly. Everyone was all for us, the community, the local parish. 

‘It has a good impact for business and it’s a good time. Have some fun and take part in the local tradition.’ 

While Julie Churchill, 52, the owner of the local fish and chip shop said: ‘We are usually the only place that opens.

‘We have been for years and years. Its lovely to see old and new faces.

‘A lot of the traveller community that we haven’t seen in years say hello – it’s lovely.

‘We stay open because everyone needs feeding. In general my thoughts are let’s embrace it. Come along and see what it’s about. The busier the better.

‘Let’s make it bigger again. It’s a tradition – no one controls it. It has been here and will stay here.’

Fun fairs, burger vans and other stalls also set up shop to cash in on the historic day that has been celebrated ‘every year’ with no signs of stopping. 

A woman is pictured preparing a horse for the fair in Hampshire

Ponies and horses were seen tied to a truck near the site of the event hours before it began

Animals were also tied up to fences across the village, where nearly all business have shut for the day

Dogs were also pictured tied up to temporary metal fencing early on Wednesday morning

The event has sparked complaints from residents in the past, while others admit ‘it is what it is’

Lee Cookson, who was visiting the fair for the first time, said: ‘I am not gypsy but I love horses and it’s a good day out – you enjoy your day.

‘It’s really friendly. I know travellers get a bad reputation and grief from drivers but it’s just a day to enjoy a tradition of years of travellers.

‘A lot traders around here will be grateful for the influx of trade.’

He added: ‘It’s a day out with travellers. It’s what they do. It’s what they did back in the day, they would ride around.’

Another resident of Wickham urged fairgoers to have an ‘open mind’. 

She said: ‘I suppose I do enjoy it. I think you have to come to this event with an open mind. It’s their way of life and I think we should encompass everybody’s way of life. 

‘I think the local pub should open a little bit because the shops ought to embrace this because because they could make money. 

‘I think the gypsy community have their networking so they let their gyspy friends know but I dont think anyone else would be interested.’ 

The event has taken place every year for centuries, apart from in 2020 and 2021 amid lockdown regulations.  

But, in the latter of those years, up to 150 people were understood to have turned up, in a move slammed by police and angry business owners.

One local said: ‘I don’t like it and I don’t go. I just stay in and shut my doors and windows. I seal in for it. They shut down everything.

‘It’s getting smaller thankfully, we just avoid it, it’s not something I want to be involved in. People have things go missing afterwards apparently but who knows if that’s connected.

‘Anyway places are closed for a reason.’

Yet some residents take a different view, with many welcoming the travellers every year and admitting ‘it is what it is’. 

One resident living close to the heart of the action told the Mail: ‘It’s been here for hundreds of years! We normally go away for it, prior to that we’ve been in the thick of it. 

‘But I enjoy watching it, yes I have to move my car, but that’s fine. Yes you occasionally get a few unsavoury characters turning up, but that’s by the by. 

‘They’ve always been good to me!’