ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the way in which Lincoln's authorities managed one set-piece annual urban rural encounter on the city's streets: the April fair, at which substantial numbers of traders with horses, sheep and cattle descended upon the city. It examines the increasingly uneasy relationship the urban authorities had with rural visitors, who were accommodated and regulated at this key moment in the city's annual calendar. During the nineteenth century, as today, Lincolnshire was one of England's least urbanised counties. This chapter focuses on Lincoln's April Fair, which will allow an analysis of the interactions between the rural and urban through the lens of key set-piece economic transactional sites, encapsulated in the staging of annual markets for horses, sheep and cattle within the city during the last full week in April. The Lincoln Longwool was a breed of significant standing during the nineteenth century. At a time when sheep were reared mainly for wool, the Lincoln breed was much valued.
