'They have been around as long as anything': museum curator delves into history of Gypsies in Epsom and Ewell - Surrey

From Your Local Guardian

This year is the 500th anniversary of the first record of Gypsies in England and they have been coming to Epsom for "as long as anything" according to its museum curator.

Jeremy Harte, who runs Bourne Hall Museum in Spring Street, Ewell Village, welcomed members of the Gypsy and traveller community to the museum last week to view a display of their history in this area.

Mr Harte said their presence in the borough is heavily linked to its most famous sporting event - the Epsom Derby.

He said: "They have always been a part of its heritage. They have been around as long as anything."

‘Gypsies and the Derby went hand-in-hand’

"Every year, Gypsy families meet at the Derby. The painted vans may have been replaced by stunning chrome-covered trailers, but for many families the get-together is as important as it was 200 years ago.

"A certain amount of horse trading still goes on, but dealing now centres on cars, vans and other commodities.

"The Gypsy community and the Derby have developed together. Until the 1820s, the race was of little interest to the general public.

"Derby Day, with its colour and excitement, has long been a magnet for artists - and Gypsies are part of its attraction.

"By 1891 there were 40 Gypsy households on Epsom Downs. This was a time when Gypsies were arriving from all over southern England for the race meeting.

"Derby Day mania reached its height in Victorian times. Along with the crowds came the travelling people - gypsy fiddlers, flower-sellers, palmists, spielers shouting the attractions of the booths or sideshows, wandering pedlars, entertainers, acrobats, stilt-walkers, and the men with their three-card or thimble-rigging tricks."

‘A mixed reaction’

Mr Harte says that Epsom’s response to the influx of "outsiders" was mixed. Some campaigned in their support, others suspected them of bringing in trouble.

"In 1895 there was a fear that Gypsies were bringing an infectious disease into the borough - unlikely as Gypsies rarely stay in one place long enough to pick up an infection," he says.

"In the 1930s, when Gypsies were faced with attempts to remove them from the Downs, they found an unexpected champion in Lady Sybil Grant.

"She was the daughter of the fifth Earl of Rosebery, who had been Prime Minister in Queen Victoria’s days. She was herself fond of caravanning and held a hawker’s licence enabling her to sell door-to-door for charity.

"There was conflict between the Gypsies and the Downs administrators at this time, and Lady Sybil let the Gypsies camp on her land at The Bushes.

"In 1932 she issued a public statement, saying: ‘I am hoping to organise the van dwellers into a humble little guild which will have the advantage of protecting the working Gypsies and getting rid of those undesirable members who are to be found in every community’."

Gypsies banned from Epsom Downs

In 1936, an Act of Parliament created the Epsom and Walton Downs Conservators and gave them the authority to run the Downs for the benefit of the public. One of their first decisions was to ban Gypsies.

Mr Harte says that Lady Sybil considered this was against the Gypsies’ rightful heritage as they had camped there for hundreds of years. She gave them use of a field, The Sanctuary, in Downs Road, but the ban on camping continued.

"Gypsies offered to pay to stop on the Downs for £1 a wagon. It was decided to refuse them, in the belief that it would cost far more to remove rubbish after they left," says the curator.

"The running battle came to a head in 1967, when summonses for illegal camping were served on 40 families.

"In 1969, the Downs Conservators handed the job over to a security company which provided 24-hour patrols to warn off campers."

Disputes between the two camps continued until 1984 when another Act of Parliament was passed.

Under this new law, Gypsies were given the right to stay on an approved site on Epsom Downs.