The Burton Statutes Fair has been held since at least 1219. It is a long standing annual tradition in the town that started as a medieval hiring fair for people seeking work. Despite the name ‘Statutes’, no evidence has ever be found of any official statute or royal charter ever being granted. It is held every year on the first Monday and Tuesday after Michaelmas (late September or early October) believed to be because the Great Court of the Abbot of Burton held around Michaelmas. By long tradition, workers were not permitted to commence erecting the fair on Sunday night until the night-time service at St Modwen’s Church had been completed and attendees given time to vacate the market place.
At the Statutes, a contract would be reached between employer and employee to fix wages for the following year. Employers customarily gathered in the yards of the George Hotel and White Hart Hotel in High Street where contracts were formally sealed with employees by the payment of a symbolic shilling. Prospective employees wore their best clothing and carried an item that denoted their trade so that they could be identified. Those who found employment wore red, white or blue ribbons in their caps.
Amusement stalls began as a means of persuading the employees to part with their shillings. Fairground rides, stalls and amusements were introduced provided something for people to enjoy alongside the more serious business of finding employment. Over time, the hiring function disappeared altogether and all that remained was the amusement fair itself. Originally, the Statutes was confined to the Market Place but it expanded to take in parts of Lichfield Street and New Street,
In 1892 locals submitted a petition calling for the fair to be cancelled or at least, relocated but this was unsuccessful. In 896, the fair still operated as a hiring fair, at which young men could be hired for £4 or higher. Pay for servants in important households started at a much higher £8. During the Second World War the main fair was cancelled because of imposed blackout regulations but continuity was ensured by setting up a large blackout tent in the market place that containing a number of amusements.
Pat Collins Funfairs organization has run the travelling fair in the town, as well as many others, for nearly 140 years. The fair has fended off a number of attempts to ban or relocate it through local petitions over the years but still survives.
Statutes in the shadow of the Market Hall
As it has for so long, the statutes still stands in the shadow of the Market Hall with the ever popular Waltzer in its well established space.