Egremont Crab Fair
Since medieval times, Egremont has celebrated crab apple time with the annual Crab Fair. This unique celebration had a great amount of local national and international support and is one of the earliest and longest running traditional country fairs in the world
The Crab Fair was first held in 1267 when King Henry III granted a Royal Charter to Thomas de Multon (1247-1294), Lord of the Barony of Egremont, for a weekly market and an annual crab fair. Then the Lord of the Manor wheeled a cart of crab apples through the village for the poor.
The fair includes sports such as climbing up a greasy pole to try and get a leg of lamb, and the World Gurning Championships. Crab apples are known for their sharp, sour taste and one theory of how the mass gurning started is said to originate from the contorted faces the locals made when they bit into the apples.
The gurning competitors have to try and pull the ugliest face with their heads stuck through a horse's braffin (collar) the winner is selected by a panel of judges..
The week before the main festivities the Crab Fair Queen is chosen
The event has been supported by Jeremy Deller (Turner Prize 2004) and fellow artist Alan Kane, after the massive success of their recent 'Folk Archive' exhibition launch at the Barbican.
Subsequent to this the artists have worked with Egremont Regeneration Partnership and Grizedale Arts to create the new greasy pole, a public work of art unveiled at a launch early in 2008 and to be part of the 2008 event in September.
The result has been to replace the traditional wooden pole with a the new high-tech carbon fibre pole. This is a permanent structure with a removable collar designed to prevent people climbing the pole except at the Crab Fair. The collar is also designed to hold the traditional leg of lamb and have ribbons tied to it that are then exchanged by those able to claim them for small cash prizes.
Lots of information about the event including a gurners gallery can be found on the Crab Fair's own website at http://www.egremontcrabfair.org.uk/
Further information on the Greasy Pole
BBC has a page on the Crab fair http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/features/egremont/egremont_crab_fair_2005_event_feature.shtml
