Welton in 1845
In 1845, the Topographical Dictionary of England records that Welton le Marsh had a population of 396, almost double the current figure of 212 in 2022 (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welton_le_Marsh )
Pleasure fair
The article notes that there was a pleasure fair every year on Old Lady Day, which would have been a celebration as itinerant farm workers moved to a new area to work.
What is “Old Lady Day”?
In the Western liturgical year, Lady Day is the traditional name in some English-speaking countries of the Feast of the Annunciation, which is celebrated on 25 March, and commemorates the visit of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, during which he informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In England, Lady Day was New Year’s Day (i.e. the new year began on 25 March) from 1155 until 1752, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted in Great Britain and its Empire and with it the first of January as the official start of the year in England, Wales and Ireland. (Scotland changed its new year’s day to 1 January in 1600.) A vestige of this remains in the United Kingdom’s tax year, which ends on 5 April, or “Old Lady Day“, i.e., Lady Day adjusted for the 11 “lost days” of the calendar change in 1752. Until this change Lady Day had been used as the start of the legal year but also the end of the fiscal and tax year. This should be distinguished from the liturgical and historical year.
As a year-end and quarter-day that conveniently did not fall within or between the seasons for ploughing and harvesting, Lady Day was a traditional day on which year-long contracts between landowners and tenant farmers would begin and end in England and nearby lands (although there were regional variations). Farmers’ time of “entry” into new farms and onto new fields was often this day. As a result, farming families who were changing farms would travel from the old farm to the new one on Lady Day. In 1752, the British empire finally followed most of western Europe in switching to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar. The Julian lagged 11 days behind the Gregorian, and hence 25 March in the Old Style calendar became 5 April (“Old Lady Day“), which assumed the role of contractual year-beginning.
Modern fairs
On 4th June 2022, the village held a street party in Mill Lane to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It was estimated that 80 people attended. It was hoped by many people that this might become a regular annual event top bring the community together.
Welton le Marsh 