Determined gypsy travellers set off for historic Appleby Horse Fair - undeterred by locals closing every pub in town for the first time and boarding up businesses after disorder last year
Determined gypsy travellers today set off on their journey to Appleby Horse Fair - despite locals planning to close every pub in town for the first time and board up shops after disorder at last year's event.
Videos posted to TikTok show travellers from far and wide riding horses and towing trailers to Appleby-in-Westmoreland, Cumbria, where the historic annual fair is held.
Locals in the neighbouring market town of Kirkby Stephen have taken action after chaos last year including claims of shoplifting, threats and urine being squirted through car windows.
Roadside verges on both sides of the A685 into the town become ad hoc campsites, bursting with caravans, tethered horses, dogs and children.
The town's main street is used for showing horses which are set to be traded - with some onlookers saying the animals tethered to railings outside pubs make the area look like 'the Wild West'.
Bank Holiday traffic on the A650 in Bingley, West Yorkshire, on Saturday included gypsy caravans travelling towards the annual Appleby Horse Festival
Travellers and their horse-drawn caravans in Shipley, West Yorkshire, are seen heading north
Motor traffic backs up behind a convoy of horse-drawn bow top caravans on Valley Road in Shipley, West Yorkshire, on Saturday - with preparations for the festival well under way
But things will be different this year as every pub in Kirkby Stephen closes for the first time in living memory, with only one community-owned club serving alcohol.
Staves have been hammered deep into roadside verges with signs making it clear that horses and caravans are not welcome.
And in case the staves are uprooted, as has happened in previous years, deep trenches have been cut into the verges to make it impossible to park a caravan without the risk of it tipping over.
Railings along the high street have been covered by boards decorated with artwork so horses cannot be tied up outside the town's most popular coffee shop.
But one local businessman, who wished to remain anonymous through fear of reprisal, warned: 'Things seem to have started badly this year already and even earlier than usual.'
Overnight camping areas are being set up across County Durham for people making their way to Appleby Horse Fair
Warning signs to potential flytippers have been put up ahead of the festival
At the beginning of May, farmer Mark Scott found himself besieged by travellers who surrounded his JCB as he tried to seal off a country lane with boulders to make it impossible for them to settle there.
Mark was subjected to insults and intimidation, with one traveller yelling, 'Kirkby Stephen is on fire, lads' - taken by some in the town as a thinly veiled threat.
On Saturday, travellers who had camped illegally on a field en route to the fair were moved on while four stolen caravans were seized by police.
Cumbria Police arrested two men yesterday as part of the operation targeting stolen vehicles being brought into the county ahead of the fair.
They recovered a Toyota Hilux pick-up truck in the Brough area which they suspected was stolen from the Essex area in southern England.
Trading Standards officers have warned Appleby Horse Fair traders to ensure their goods are genuine and safe this year after they found some evidence of counterfeit goods last time.
Unprecedented restrictions are awaiting travellers descending in their thousands on Kirkby Stephen for this year's Appleby Horse Fair
Staves have been hammered deep into roadside verges with signs on making it clear that horses and caravans are not welcome
If the staves are uprooted, deep trenches have been cut into the verges to make it impossible to park a caravan
Railings along the high street have been covered by boards decorated with artwork so that horses cannot be tied up outside the town's most popular coffee shop
The Appleby Horse Fair has been a mainstay of the Gypsy calendar since the early 20th century - and its roots can be traced even further back.
But according to local historian Andrew Connell, it does not have its origins in a 1685 charter issued by King James II, as some have claimed.
In his book, Appleby Gypsy Horse Fair: Mythology, Origins, Evolution and Evaluation, Mr Connell reveals how the story of the 1685 charter dates from 1945, when two Appleby councillors who disliked the fair tried to stop it.
'There's no evidence for it, the claim first surfaced in 1945,' Mr Connell told MailOnline.
The fair in fact began in 1775, but did not come to be primarily associated with the traveller community until more than a century later.
Travellers set up their modern and traditional caravans at last year's Appleby Horse Fair
A travelling man and two children ride their horses through the river during last years fair
Police officers walk past a travelling man on his horse during last year's fair
'It was a trading occasion for droved cattle and sheep, and of course horses. There's not much evidence of gypsy association with it,' Mr Connell said.
'The main market was local farmers, buying and selling sheep and cattle at good prices.
'It morphed into a horse fair with the coming of the railway when cattle and sheep droving ended.
'By the 1880s it's more of a horse-trading event. Horse-dealing did have strong gypsy-traveller associations, because historically it was easier to own horses without owning land.
'As it became a horse fair in the 1880s, the links with gypsy-travellers became stronger and stronger because they were the main dealers in horses.
'So by the 1890s, certainly by the 1900s, it is seen as an occasion where the people who come are by a large extent gypsy and Romany travellers.'
So-called 'trotting' - the practice of running horses up and down to show them off to buyers - began in the inter-war years.
Travellers heading to last year's Appleby fair in their eye-catching traditional caravans
A boy rides his horse through the river Eden to wash it, as part of traditional customs
Travellers are pictured arriving at the Appleby Horse Fair last year, parking up their caravans ahead of the festivities which involved some disorder - hence this year's local backlash
Similarly, the tradition of gypsies and travellers washing their horses in the River Eden stems from the 20th century.
After the end of the Second World War, the fair received a further boost as the evolution of transport allowed gypsies and travellers to come from further afield with ease.
The fair has survived successive attempts to close it down, including in 1967, when the local authority cited poor sanitation.
Increased attendance has brought controversy too, with locals complaining about congestion and poor behaviour in the past.
A horse which drowned in the Eden as it was being washed in 2007 triggered an investigation by the RSPCA.
Cumbria Police have struggled in recent years to ensure the safety of the event, as a town that ordinarily has around 2,500 residents is overwhelmed by up to 30,000 visitors.
Superintendent Dan St Quintin, Gold Commander for the event, said: 'As we head towards the 2024 Appleby Horse Fair, officers are working to identify and take enforcement action against the minority who either come to the county intent on committing offences or come here after committing offences elsewhere.
'This will enable the vast majority of people coming to the Fair who are law-abiding to enjoy it.'
