The Fabulous Fezheads moved the Fig & Date Fayre to Chippenham for 2000, due to our regular Landlady suffering ill-health. It was a short notice thing and The Old Road Tavern did us proud' our thanks to them. This modern resurrection of the ancient Fig & Date Fayre has now had its' third year and the event has once again proved extremely popular; so popular in fact that numbers had to be limited.

Fig & Date Fayre History

Our investigations have led us to believe that the Fig & Date Fayre dates back to Roman times when the arrival of the year's fig and date crop from Southern Europe was the cause of much celebration. After a gap of probably a millenia or so the Fezheads decided to start the thing off again in 1998.

Anyway, back to the history; Fruits in Roman Britain were limited to the indigenous varieties of apples and pears, consequently the arrival of figs and dates with their naturally high sugar content were eagerly anticipated.

They could either be eaten as fruit or dried or pulped to make drinks or extract the sweet syrup for other culinary purposes. Indeed we believe some of the pulp was used in the brewing processes used at that time, though it would appear from the transcription of Roman documents that the sugars were quite powerful and special strains of yeast were used. Ones that could withstand the high sugar concentrations.

We have tried to recreate some of these recipes, beer as well as wine of course, and the dates particularly do add a certain fruity maltness to the flavour (fresh rather than dried are preferable). Highly recommended!! In fact six bottles of this potent brew were awarded as prizes at the Millennium Fayre.

It is likely that the fruit was imported into one of the southern British seaports (such as Portsmouth with its' natural harbour and friendly tides, the Romans were no great sailors) and taken inland to various market towns for onward distribution. Old date pits have been found in many fragments of Roman Urns uncovered in Southern England.

A spokesman for the Fabulous Fezheads said

"Though we hail from Kent, we appreciate that this was probably an undertaking that would have occurred in more centrally as the sea route around the coast of France and straight accross to the Solent would ensure the crop was delivered as quickly and as freshly as possible. We accordingly selected Blandford Forum as the venue, as our investigations lead us to believe that it is likely that the town would have played at least some role in the excercise"

Saturday March 25th 2000 saw The Fabulous Fezheads and their friends descend on Chippenham at various times throughout the morning, ready for battle and festivities. They met at the Old Road Tavern, whose Landlord and Landlady graciously agreed to bear the brunt of the festivities. The packed itinerary included Music, Dancing, Sports and Competitions celebrating the Fig and Date.

Photographs taken at the 1999 Fig & Date Fayre are displayed on a separate page via this link

Our hosts, who will warmly welcome you at any time of year:

ITINERARY FOR THE MILLENIUM FIG & DATE FAYRE

All text and images © WebKrime Dept./The Fabulous Fezheads