Harriet Wheelock / Thursday 31 March 2011

Are you going to Donnybrook Fair?

While cataloguing a pile of nineteenth century medical certificates early in the week I came across a poster for 'Donnybrook Fair – Amusement for the Million!'

Donnybrook fair was established in 1204 on the orders of King John, although it is possible the site was already being used for fairs and important gatherings in the previous century. By the nineteenth century, Donnybrook Fair had lost most of its original mercantile purpose and had become an occasion for public entertainment, drunkenness and debauchery. The reputation of Donnybrook Fair for violence and drinking was such that by the early-mid nineteenth century a "donnybrook" was a slang name for a wild fight or rowdy brawl.

Attempts to ban the fair were made in the early decades of the nineteenth century, but it was not until 1850 and the death of the license holder John Madden, that any real success was achieved. In 1855, John Madden's sister Ellen sold the rights to hold the fair for £3,000 to Father Nolan and his association, which had led the campaign against the fair. Five years later the association were horrified to find signs going up announcing that the fair was to be held once again in August of 1860. The posters, as with the one in the archive here, which probably dates from a year or two later, were signed by Joseph Dillon, the nephew of John Madden and owner of the fair ground. On taking legal advice those who objected to the Dillon's fair discovered that, despite their best efforts, they were unable to prevent the fair, which was held in 1860 and for the following six years. The attempts to prevent the fair are referred to in the poster, Dillon states that ' I feel confident that no person will again interfere with my legitimate right on my own property, as I am determined to seek redress, for same'.

Despite Dillon's fighting word he was unable to maintain the fair. In 1866 the new Catholic Church in Donnybrook opened on Sunday 26^th August, the same day as the fair. The fair was unable to compete, and despite a few sporadic attempts to revived it, Donnybrook fair passed into history and the popular song 'The Humours of Donnybrook' or the 'Donnybrook Jig'

For further reading on Donnybrook Fair see Séamas Ó Maitiú Donnybrook Fair: carnival versus lent in History Ireland, Volume 4, Issue 1, 1996