There were booths already going up in the great triangle of the horse-fair,and all along the Foregate from the bridge to the corner of the enclosure,where the road veered right towards Saint Giles, and the king’s highway toLondon. There was a newly-erected wooden jetty downstream from the bridge,where the long riverside stretch of the main abbey gardens and orchards began,the rich lowland known as the Gaye. By river, by road, afoot through theforests and over the border from Wales, traders of all kinds began to maketheir way to Shrewsbury. And into the great court of the abbey flocked all thegentry of the shire, and of neighbouring shires, too, lordlings, knights,yeomen, with their wives and daughters, to take up residence in the overflowingguest-halls for the three days of the annual fair. Subsistence goods they grew,or bred, or brewed, or wove, or span for themselves, the year round, but once ayear they came to buy the luxury cloths, the fine wines, the rare preservedfruits, the gold and silver work, all the treasures that appeared on the feastof Saint Peter ad Vincula, and vanished three days later. To these great fairscame merchants even from Flanders and Germany, shippers with French wines,shearers with the wool-clip from Wales, and clothiers with the finished goods,gowns, jerkins, hose, town fashions come to the country. Not many of thevendors had yet arrived, most would appear next day, on the eve of the feast,and set up their booths during the long summer evening, ready to begin sellingearly on the morrow. But the buyers were arriving in purposeful numbersalready, bent on securing good beds for their stay.

When Brother Cadfael came up from the Meole brook and his vegetable-fieldsfor Vespers, after a hard and happy afternoon’s work, the great court wasseething with visitors, servants and grooms, and the traffic in and out of thestables flowed without cease. He stood for a few minutes to watch the pageant,and Brother Mark at his elbow glowed as he gazed, dazzled by the play ofcolours and shimmer of movement in the sunlight.