Frost Fairs on the River Thames

Frost Fairs on the River Thamesの基本情報から最新動向までをわかりやすく整理しました。

The irony is that these fairs were somehow both dangerous and festive. The ice wasn’t uniformly thick, so every few years, someone would fall through and become a cautionary tale for the next fair.

But the British pushed on, because nothing says “national pride” like ignoring hypothermia for a cup of “mulled wine sold by a man with icicles in his beard.” By the 19th century, fairs included hot gingerbread stalls, dancing bears (poor bears), and a “print your name on a souvenir” station that was basically the Instagram of the 1700s.

The death of the frost fair (and a river’s revenge)

So why don’t we have frost fairs today? Two words: climate change and engineering. The Little Ice Age ended, and the Thames got warmer. More importantly, they built a new London Bridge in 1831 that let the river flow faster, preventing ice from forming.

The last proper frost fair was in 1814, and it was a soggy, pathetic send-off. The ice lasted only three days, and organizers had to cancel the elephant parade when the surface started cracking. It was the most British ending possible: a festival ruined by a drizzle.