Beaminster Market and Charter Fair

Beaminster Market and Charter Fair is celebrated annually in the town, traditionally a centre for wool and linen near Dorchester and situated in the valley of the River Brit. The Charter Fair has been held in Dorset since 1284 when Edward I, known by the nickname Longshanks, granted a charter to hold a market. The fair is marked by dressing up in old costumes and showing traditional lace-making, basket-weaving and Morris dancing on the main square of the market town.

Many stories have been re-enacted at the fair. The Monmonth or West Country Rebellion against James II of 1685 depicts the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II, the Duke of Monmouth after he landed at Lyme Regis and attempted to depose his uncle from the throne. King Alfred cakes are baked and recognise the independence of the kingdom of Wessex from the Vikings and its survival against Danish raids up until 1066 and the Norman Conquest when the Saxon kingdom ceased to exist as a political entity. This film would have been the 900-year anniversary of the end of the kingdom of Wessex. Wessex holds a distinct identity largely because of its reinvention as a fictitious county by author Thomas Hardy in his novels.