This article was first published on #FolkloreThursday.com as London Folklore: The Legendary Frost Fairs of the River Thames by zteve t evans on December 27, 2018, and has been revised and edited with images added 4 March 2024 by zteve t evans.
Thames Frost Fairs
The historic Frosts Fairs held on the River Thames in London are depicted in several works of art that show how cold, icy, and severe the weather became during those events compared to the weather experienced in the capital in modern times. The idea of a Frost Fair on the icy surface of the River Thames in London may seem like a flight of fantasy today, especially when one appears or is mentioned several times in one of the UK’s favorite sci-fi television series, Dr Who. In one of the scenes set during the 1814 Thames Frost Fair, the doctor encounters an elephant walking across the frozen surface of the Thames. In another episode, the doctor takes River Song to the same event to celebrate her birthday. The Thames Frost Fairs are featured in two tracks on “Snow on Snow” by The Albion Christmas Band, a beautiful collection of Christmas and winter songs on CD. Today, the idea of such a novel event with crowds of people, stalls, entertainment and all the fun of the fair on the frozen River Thames may seem surreal. Nevertheless, it has happened several times in the past. Here, we look at some of these times and see how it affected Londoners, what they did, and how they coped in those frigid times.
The Little Ice Age
The River Thames has long been an important trade and transport route, and many large and small businesses flourish around it. The river swarmed with large and small boats crewed by watermen, who ferried people and goods up, down and across the river. Many people lived, worked, and died around the river, and a rich culture of folklore and legend evolved, some of which still exist today. With the great river’s importance to Londoners, how would they cope when it suddenly stopped flowing and froze solid, allowing no ships or boats to travel up, down or across it?
A series of sudden exceptionally cold periods of extreme wintery weather have caused this to happen several times. Although such a notion may seem nothing but legend and folklore, it is a historical fact that the River Thames has frozen several times, hard enough for usual daily commerce to be temporarily impossible. These extreme cold events happened during a period known as the Little Ice Age that lasted from 1300 to 1870. Expert opinion varies on this and the causes and is not dealt with here. It was also known to have frozen over in even earlier times. During the winter of 1536, Henry VIII was said to have enjoyed a sleigh ride to Greenwich from the center of London on the Thames ice. In 1564, Elizabeth I strolled upon the ice and practiced archery on the frozen river.
The worst of the big freezes occurred between 1550 and 1750, and during the winters of 1683 – 1684 and 1715 – 1716, the Thames was frozen for three months, but most events were usually much briefer. However, when it did freeze over, it brought the river and much of the city’s daily business to an abrupt halt. Nevertheless, Londoners, being innovative and enterprising, changed what they did to suit the weather. In its frozen state, the river became a highway that wagons and coaches could traverse while the boats were stuck in the ice. Furthermore, it became an extension of the land, offering new opportunities not just to make money but also to have fun and Londoners like to have fun.
The First Frost Fair (1607-08)
In 1608, the first recorded London Frost Fair occurred on the icy surface of the River Thames. During December 1607, the ice was thick enough for people to walk from Southwark to the city. By January 1608, the ice was thick and solid enough for a host of activities on its surface. A small town of stalls, booths and tents sprang up, selling many diverse kinds of food and drink. Tradesmen such as shoemakers and barbers set up stalls selling their wares and services and even lit fires on the ice to keep warm and use for cooking.
Among them, skittles, bowling, and many other sports and activities took place for people to enjoy and participate in. Another popular game was “folk” football, unlike modern football, where two teams compete, and rules are followed. This competition was between two mobs with few rules which often became chaotic, unrestrained, riotous events.
The Celebrated Frost Fair of 1683-84
The diarist, writer and Fellow of the Royal Society, John Evelyn (1620 – 1706), provides an on-the-spot, eye-witness account of the event often called the Celebrated Frost Fair of 1683-84. On January 6, 1684, in his diary, he wrote,
“The frost continues more and more severe; the Thames before London was still planted with booths in formal streets, all sorts of trades and shops furnished, and full of commodities, even to a printing press, where the people and ladies took a fancy to have their names printed, and the day and year set down when printed on the Thames: this hum our took so universally, that it was estimated that the printer gained £5 a day, for printing a line only, at sixpence a name, besides what he got by ballads, etc.
Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple and from several other stairs to and from, as in the streets, sleds, sliding with skates, bull-baiting, horse and coach-races, puppet-plays and interludes, cooks, tippling, and other lewd places, so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph or carnival on the water, while it was a severe judgment on the land, the trees not only splitting as if the lightning struck, but men and cattle perishing in divers places, and the very seas so locked up with ice, that no vessels could stir out or come in. (1)
Evelyn tells how even printers got in on the act. One name, Croom, had the idea of cashing in on the event’s novelty by selling souvenir cards for sixpence each. They carried the customer’s name and the date and proclaimed that it was printed on the frozen Thames. These were extremely popular, and Croon was said to make five pounds daily. Even King Charles II was said to have brought one. This impromptu frost fair began the rise of Chipperfield’s Circus, which also provided entertainment.
The sheer novelty of the frozen Thames inspired many enterprising and opportunistic citizens to make the best of the severe weather while making money and having fun at the same time. Despite the cold, young and old folk flocked to the frozen river in their thousands to enjoy the various activities and events that suddenly sprang up.
From a Print of the Frost Fair, 1684, we learn that hackney carriages and horse-drawn carts used the frozen river as a road. A street of booths and stalls sprang up selling beers, brandy, and every kind of alcoholic beverage, and there was music and dancing and many other entertainments and booths that sold hot coffee and food,
Hot Codlins, Pancakes, Duck, Goose, and Sack,
Rabit, Capon, Hen, Turkey, and a wooden Jack.
In this same street before the Temple was made,
There seems to be a brisk and lively Trade:There Roasted was a great and well-fed Oxe,
And there, with Dogs, Hunted the cunning Fox;
Dancing o’ th’ Ropes, and Puppit-plays likewise,
The like before we’re seen beneath the Skies; (2)
Events such as blood sports and folk football took place, and all sorts of merchants and traders brought their wares and services to sell on the ice. As more people flocked onto the frozen Thames, there was more money to be made, and the atmosphere became increasingly Bacchanalian with stalls selling liquor doing a roaring trade and each competing for custom from quaint, though aptly named booths, for example,
Where e’ry Booth hath such a cunning Sign,
As seldom hath been seen in former time;
The Flying Piss-pot is one of the same,
The Whip and Egg-shell, and the Broom by name: (3)
With its increasing popularity, there was more money to be made, and even more diverse trades set up shop on the ice. As well as being a place of novelty and entertainment, it became a market where all sorts of goods and merchandise were sold, and prices became higher on the ice than they were off it. Not everyone approved of what was happening on the Thames ice. For some people, the drunkenness and debauchery among the revelers and the shady dealings of many river traders caused concern that it was bringing out the worst in people.
The Frost Fair of 1715-16
Londoners were hit by another hard winter in 1715-16 when heavy snowfalls blanketed the city, and it was so cold that the Thames froze for almost three months. Once again, London entrepreneurs took to the ice, erecting booths, tents, and pavilions selling all kinds of goods and services. People flocked onto the frozen river to have fun. On January 19, two oxen were roasted over fires upon the ice. The activities on the frozen river drew people away from the theatres, and the Prince of Wales visited the Frost Fair.
Once again, entrepreneurial printers set stalls on the ice, publishing all sorts of printed paraphernalia. The Dawks were a London family of printers and booksellers, and one of them, Ichabod Dawks, published a regular newsletter called Dawks’ Newsletter, and on January 14, the news was,
“The Thames seems now a solid rock of ice; and booths for the sale of brandy, wine, ale, and other exhilarating liquors, have been for some time fixed thereon ; but now it is in a manner like a town: thousands of people cross it, and with wonder view the mountainous heaps of water, that now lie congealed into ice. On Thursday, a great cook’s-shop was erected, and gentlemen went as frequently to dine there as at any ordinary. Over against Westminster, Whitehall, and Whitefriars, Printing-presses are kept upon the ice, where many persons have their names printed, to transmit the wonders of the season to posterity.” (4)
Horse-drawn wagons, coaches, barrows, carts, and vehicles of all sorts were taken onto the ice, transporting goods and people upon the frozen surface, and a preacher aroused and warmed his congregation with an enthusiastic sermon.
The Thames, being a tidal river, was also subject to the tides as well as the frost and cold. An abnormally high tide raised the ice by fourteen feet, flooding cellars in buildings alongside the river but not putting the revelers out of their stride. On February 15, the ice began to thaw and split, ending the party.
The Great Frost of 1739-40
The winter of 1739-40 was another severe event remembered for the intense frost and cold and produced another Thames Frost Fair. It began on Christmas Day and lasted into the New Year before finally beginning to slowly thaw on February 17 and becoming known as The Great Frost. The weather was said to be more severe than the weather around Hudson’s Bay, Canada. The less impoverished and working-class citizens struggled to find food, fuel, and water. With the weather so bad, many traders, such as the watermen who worked on the Thames, fishermen, carpenters, bricklayers, and many other trades, could not operate. A march was held to bring their plight to the attention of the rich and the rulers of the city, who granted some relief to the suffering people.
A few days after the arrival of the Great Frost, a powerful storm struck the Thames and its estuary, causing considerable damage to boats and vessels. Icebergs and floes caused havoc and eventually froze together, covering the surface of the river to create an alien scene of a snowy field with small uneven hills of snow and ice and icebergs protruding through the icy white surface.
When the weather settled, another Frost Fair sprung up on the ice of the Thames, selling all sorts of goods and services. Again, the printers were there, and there were the usual drinking and eating booths, puppet shows and a wide variety of entertainment and sports. A carnival atmosphere prevailed as the people sought to forget the problems and difficulties that the severe weather brought. The ice lasted for about nine weeks before it thawed and broke up.
The Frost Fair of 1767-68
At the end of December 1767, a severe frost began and strengthened until January 16, causing the River Thames to freeze again. Ships, boats, and river vessels became trapped in the ice, and many were severely damaged or sunk by the ice flowing with the tides. During this period, many lives were lost, and the price of meat and food increased so much that impoverished people could not afford it. The Lord Mayor of London, Thomas Harley, provided subsidies for bringing fish to the Billingsgate market, helping to alleviate the suffering. Nevertheless, the less well-off citizens suffered great hardship in London and the surrounding countryside, where roads were impassable. Coal, fuel, and food became scarce and expensive because they could not be transported, and the severe weather caused many accidents and deaths. A violent storm also caused chaos and damage in the city, amounting to £50,000, a considerable sum of money in those days.
The Frost Fair of 1788-89
A severe frost began on November 25, 1788, and lasted seven weeks. On January 5, the Thames froze over, as before, a fair and market with puppet shows, drinking and eating booths, and even exhibits of wild animals appeared on the ice.
The Gentleman’s Magazine reported that on January 10, 1889, thirteen men drove a wagon carrying a ton of coal from Loughborough, Leicestershire and delivered it to the Prince of Wales at Carlton House. The clerk of the cellars paid them four guineas, but when His Highness heard of their feat, he ordered them to be rewarded with 20 guineas and a pot of beer each. On January 13, the Prince of Wales donated £1,000 to relieve the impoverished during the severe weather.
On Saturday, January 17, the captain of a ship negotiated an agreement with a publican to secure his boat to his premises, which lay close to the Thames bank. An anchor was taken into the publican’s cellar and made fast. At the same time, a cable was attached to a structural beam of the building. In the night, the weather and currents took hold of the ship, causing the publican’s structure to be destroyed and five people killed. (5)
The magazine also reports that in February 1789, entertainment and booths appeared on the ice of the Thames with all manner of entertainment. All kinds of food and drinks were sold with fires roasting oxen, sheep, and pigs. Once again, the Thames became a place of carnival and festival, yet, despite the merriment, the poorer citizens suffered terribly with little food, water, or fuel for warmth. There was little work to be had that could be done to earn money, and the City of London raised 1,500 pounds to alleviate the suffering. (6)
The Last Frost Fair (1814)
The last frost fair on the frozen River Thames began on February 1, 1814, and lasted four days. As with previous Frost Fairs, an enterprising printer named George Davis set up a stall and typeset, printed, and published a 124-page book titled Frostiana; or a History of the River Thames in a Frozen State, which he sold as a souvenir. Again, stalls and booths sprang up, selling a vast array of goods, wares, and services. The watermen, unable to work, used the sails from their boats to make booths and tents to accommodate the selling of food such as roast meat and gingerbread.
While tea, coffee and hot chocolate were readily available, gin, beer and wine were more popular. These beverages were sold in “fuddling tents, “temporary makeshift inns. A variety of entertainments were held on the ice, including skittles, football, ox roasts and dancing. The watermen charged for entry onto the ice and to watch events such as an ox being roasted. Often, the same families whose ancestors had provided these services for previous Frost Fairs were the providers this time. The atmosphere was raucous, with a lot of drunkenness and people being fleeced of money. There were no policemen in those days, and the watermen kept order, broke up fights and controlled the ice. As previously mentioned, one of the most novel events was when someone led an elephant across the frozen river, creating an extraordinary scene.
Problems and Hardship
Frost Fairs on the Thames were not all fun and frolic; they also brought massive problems and hardship. The severe weather that produced the conditions to enable a frost fair also brought issues for Londoners. John Evelyn tells us,
“The fowls, fish, and birds, and all our exotic plants and greens, universally perishing. Many parks of deer were destroyed, and all sorts of fuel so dear, that there were great contributions to preserve the poor alive. Nor was this severe weather much less intense in most parts of Europe, even as far as Spain and the most southern tracts. London, by reason of the excessive coldness of the air hindering the ascent of the smoke, was so filled with the fuliginous steam of the sea-coal, that hardly could one see across the street, and this filling the lungs with its gross particles, exceedingly obstructed the breast, so as one could scarcely breathe. Here was no water to be had from the pipes and engines, nor could the brewers and divers other tradesmen work, and every moment was full of disastrous accidents.” (7)
When the ice started to melt and break up, it became treacherous, causing death to people and animals, damage to property, and flooding. The harsh weather also affected people in the countryside, other parts of the UK, and Europe.
Future Frost Fairs
The Old London Bridge (1176-1825) was one of the most iconic images of London and partly responsible for the Thames freezing over. Its design slowed the water and trapped ice floes, causing them to clog up the river and freeze together. The river was shallower, broader, and flowed slower than today, making it easier to freeze. In 1831, the Old London Bridge was demolished and replaced by one designed to have wider arches that allowed the river to flow unimpeded. Also, the construction of the Thames embankments made it deeper and flow faster, reducing the chances of it freezing over on its way through London, with the same intensity as in the past.
Another factor that might contribute to preventing a big freeze on the scale of the past is the heat given off by the mass of tarmac, concrete, and heated buildings, which helps keep London warmer in winter than areas outside the capital. Conversely, in the summer, it can make it uncomfortably warmer. That being said, no one knows what the future will bring with global warming, and there may be a few surprises.
London Folklore
The Thames Frost Fairs became a part of the rich bank of London folklore. Works of art and literature of the time give future generations a vivid impression of the sheer novelty and rarity of these rare unique events enjoyed, but also suffered, by Londoners. The Frost Fairs were a testament to the endurance and enterprising spirit of Londoners and an example of their ability to make the best out of what must have been tough times for many people.
As time passed, legends emerged from historical events as facts became exaggerated and embellished, enhancing their novelty for later generations whose curiosity is aroused by the differences between what they experience in the present and what happened in the past.
© zteve t evans
References, Attributions and Further Reading
Copyright zteve t evans
- (1), (7),The Diary of John Evelyn (Volume 2 of 2) by John Evelyn
- (2), (3) Print of The Frost Fair, 1684
- (4), (5), (6), Davis, George. Frostiana; Or a History of the River Thames in a Frozen State. (London: printed and published on the Ice on the River Thames, 5 February 1814)
- When winter really was winter: the last of the London Frost Fairs |
- Frost of 1814 – Gallery of Natural Phenomena
- Frost Fairs of London – The Ultimate History Project
- Music
- The Thames Frozen Over, Humours Upon The Ice – The Christmas Albion Band
- Video resources
- Walking on the River Thames | Thin Ice | Doctor Who | BBC
- Frost Fairs: London’s Frozen Thames – YouTube
- Images
- File:Thomas Wyke- Thames frost fair.JPG – Wikimedia Commons
- File:Houghton STC 11403 – Great Frost, 1608.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
- File:The Frozen Thames 1677.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
- File:Hondius – Frost Fair 1684.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
- File:Frost Fair of 1814 by Luke Clenell.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
Under the influence! 
![Thomas Wyke [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Wyke-_Thames_frost_fair.JPG){kind=link}
