One of the principal trades in the town’s markets during the Middle Ages was wool. Alresford’s wide streets made it an ideal place to trade livestock and sheep fairs became established as an integral part of the local economy. From 1831 the fairs were moved from the centre of the town to a field to the east of Sun Lane. Following the building of the railway in 1863 (which ran through the centre of the site) the fairs moved to a field just to the north of the Bishop’s Sutton road. In this picture, about 1910, a flock of sheep can be seen returning along East Street from one of the fairs