A warm welcome to you to Discover Britain’s Markets and Market Towns, an indispensable annual guide to the wealth of markets and market towns that are available to visit and explore across Great Britain.

From north to south, east to west, the British Isles is blessed with an exceptional collection of markets and market towns. In fact, if you were to sit back for just a minute and draw up a quick list you would soon find the actual number you come up with to be quite staggering. And that would probably not even touch the surface. A conservative figure is that there are around 1800 markets across Britain alone, and that is before we add market towns to the equation.

Everyone loves a bargain and markets have become rather hip in the UK over the last decade. From food exclusive markets to those selling just about everything and anything you could want or need, in just about every town and city across Great Britain there is a market of some description or another.

Many date back centuries, and are unique, distinctive and world famous, however you will be surprised at just how many are almost unknown. It is interesting that a market town - or market right - is a legal term which originates from as far back as the Middle Ages, allowing a European settlement that has the right to host markets to distinguish itself from a village and city. The term derived from markets and fairs that were first established way back in the 13th century after the passage of the Magna Carta, and the first laws towards a ‘parlement’.

Going back further still, the ancient Roman stronghold of Colchester in Essex can lay claim to be England’s oldest recorded market town, competing with Cirencester in Gloucestershire the second town in later Roman Britain.

So how did markets and market towns evolve and take off? In pre-19th century England and Wales, the majority of the population made their living through agriculture and livestock farming. Most people lived where they worked, with relatively few in towns, therefore farmers and their wives brought their pro-duce to informal markets held on the grounds of their church after worship.

Often a market town would erect a market cross in the centre of the town, to obtain God’s blessing on the trade. In Scotland, market towns were often distinguished by their mercat cross, places where the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by a ruling authority (either royal, noble, or ecclesiastical). As in the rest of the UK, the area in which the cross is situated is almost always central, in either the square or wide main street.

Market towns began to establish themselves at centres of local activity and were an important feature of rural life, such as the towns of Market Drayton, Market Harborough, Market Rasen, and Market Deeping. Equally by the same token, the likes of Chipping Norton, Chipping Ongar, and Chipping Sodbury became hives of activity; the ‘chipping’ prefix being derived from a Saxon verb meaning “to buy”.

Market towns often grew up close to fortified places such as castles, to enjoy their protection; or were located where transport was easiest such as at a crossroads, close to a river ford or, in later times, a railway.

As traditional market towns began to develop, the location of markets varied further still. To grab attention and be a focal meeting point as it were, many took root on a wide main street or central market square to provide room for people to set up stalls and booths on designated market days. Market halls took things one step further and could largely be found within administrative or civic quarters above a covered trading area.

Look out for all these fascinating signs of a bygone time – many of which are still very much evident today - on your next visit, or better still ask the local market traders themselves. In this day and age where competition on the high street is tougher than ever and in many cases traditional centres are on the decline, markets and market towns need all the support they can get.

This handbook will provide you with some interesting facts and information on a host of great markets and market towns to visit across Great Britain and provide you with a wealth of ideas to inspire you and your friends to pay them a visit and support your and other local high streets.