ABSTRACT
The liminality of Brough Hill Fair was delineated and regulated by the police, whose methods framed contemporary cultural attitudes. Ordinary policemen effectively defined, identified and dealt with outsiders who were considered threat to rural Cumbria. Judd has said that fairs are as interesting as riots to the social historian. This comment is very apt, for fairs, like riots, were closely implicated in contemporary discourses on social order, morality, economic change and progress. The status of Brough Hill Fair was made clear in the Cyclopedia of Agriculture of 1855. Brough Hill Fair brought people from industrial cities to rural Westmorland. Police policy, to protect Cumbria, determined their tactics in dealing with foot and mouth disease and with thieves. The police exercised their discretion in identifying and dealing with certain types of male offenders, prioritising offences such as pickpocketing and card-sharping, and tolerating, for example, drink- and prostitution-related offences. Police tactics and consequent successes were reported very favourably in the Cumbrian press.
