The Greenhill Fair

The Greenhill Fair is the great public event that Hardy introduces in Chapter 49 of Far From The Madding Crowd, and develops fully in Chapter 50.  It was one of the largest sheep fairs in the Southwest England during the nineteenth century. The venue of the fair was Greenhill in the Dorset village of Sturminster Newton.  Hardy's portrayal was based on a real local institution familiar to him. 

Hardy gives us a view of the economic life of Wessex, in which farmers, shepherds, traders, entertainers, and villagers gather from many miles around. Farming, trading, entertainment, and gossip converge here. Farmers and traders mingle with circus performers and general crowds.  The fair brings back the "dead" sergeant Troy alive. Troy had been working with a travelling performance company, appearing in the spectacle of "Turpin's Ride to York"  and the "Death  of Black Bess"

Greenhill Fair is the opposite of the quiet fields of Weatherbury, which represents stability and routine community.  The Fair represents movement, chance, illusion, and sudden reversal.  Troy reappears in this bustling world of sound and light. He appears here not as a husband but as an actor of theatrical show, fitting his character as a man of display and performance. 

Large sheep fairs such as Greenhill Fair were major economic events before modern livestock markets.  Thousands of sheep could be bought and sold there. These fairs also functioned as hiring fairs or mop fairs where farm workers and shepherds seek employment for the coming season.  Recollect Gabriel Oak's loss at Norcombe hill and his search for an employment and his unexpected meeting with Bathsheba. So, at the end of chapter 49 Hardy is preparing the reader for a dramatic collision between the rustic life of Weatherbury and the unpredictable world from which Troy suddenly reappears. 

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