Did you know that there used to be a Walnut Fair in Croydon? When I say ‘used to be’ we’re talking a long long time ago – if we discount the 1987 revival at the Fairfield Halls, we’re talking 1300s-to-1800s ‘old’. It was an annual tradition for people across London to flock to our fair town to buy (yes you guessed it) walnuts, but also other tasty items such as oysters and gingerbread. Whilst they were here they would also enjoy the fair’s entertainment including travelling theatre and circus. By the Victorian times the fair had started to get out of control with crowds of raucous fairgoers (and we thought the Victorians were polite!). So the Walnut Fair was sadly shut down in 1868, after being in Croydon for over 550 years…

Anyway, why am I telling you this? Well, on the first weekend of October, Croydon will be bringing back the Walnut Fair as part of a new Autumn Harvest event in the town centre.

As well as lots of free family-friendly folk activities in and around Queen’s Gardens, Katharine Street and Surrey Street Market (think folk dance, performance, storytelling, street performers and craft activities), there will also be a recreation of the historic Walnut Fair at Pollock’s Toy Museum in the Whitgift Centre in collaboration with Croydon Natural History & Scientific Society, with toys, stories, live performances, workshops and more.

To continue the festival vibe, there will be gigantic puppets in the form of a chicken and a fox roaming the streets to entertain us (I worry for the chicken!), the ‘Vegetable Nannies’ will be providing a pop-up allotment, there’ll be an array of animals for kids to meet in Queen’s Gardens (thanks to Vauxhall City Farm), and there’s ‘The Poetry Machine’ turning the words of fairgoers into takeaway poems. Oh and don’t forget the harvest market.

For those of us who like a bit of a dance (and who doesn’t) there’s a whole programme of folk dance from around the globe at the Braithwaite Hall to celebrate harvest, including Bhangra dance, Spanish Flamenco dance, Sri Lankan Kandyan dance, Bulgarian dance Horo, Kolattam from South India and Garba from Gujarat, African dance styles and British Clog and Morris dancing. Now that’s what I call eclectic.

There’s a whole host of crafts on offer too from Indian block painting to puppet and kite making. PLUS all activities are free. Now that sounds like a plan for Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October. I wonder if they’ll be serving any walnuts?

Incidentally, if you’d like to read more about the history of Croydon’s Walnut Fair, there’s an interesting feature in Inside Croydon by David Morgan. Or head along to the Clocktower at 11.15am on Saturday 5 October, or to Pollocks at 2pm on Sunday 6 October, where the President of the Croydon Natural History & Scientific Society, Carole Roberts, will be giving a talk about the Fair.

The 2024 Walnut Fair and harvest celebrations take place between 11am and 4pm on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October 2024 in the Whitgift Centre, Queen’s Gardens, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, and Surrey Street.

Find out more information about the recreation of the Walnut Fair at Pollock’s Toy Museum in the Whitgift Centre here, and more about the harvest celebrations on the Culture Croydon website here. 

Images courtesy of the Croydon Culture team. Header by the Croydonist with photo by Mockup Graphics.

Posted by Julia