Smithfield

Smithfield, or SMOOTHFIELD, is an open space of 5½ acres in London, used for centuries as a market for sheep, horses, cattle, and hay. Being a little north of Newgate and west of Aldersgate, it was outside the city walls, and available for jousts, tournaments, executions, and burnings. It was also a place of recreation for the people, and the celebrated Bartholomew Fair (q.v.) was held in Smithfield. Here the patriot Wallace was executed by Edward I.; here in the great agrarian revolt Wat Tyler, at the head of 30,000 peasants, encountered Richard II., and was stabbed by Walworth, the Mayor of London; and it was here that many of the long line of martyrs from 1401 to 1612 suffered in the flames or on the scaffold. With the growth of the city the cattle-market became an intolerable nuisance (described in Oliver Twist), and was finally closed in 1855 (see SLAUGHTER-HOUSE). The hay-market goes on, but the centre of the space is laid out as a garden with fountains. The Smithfield Club (1798) holds its annual cattle shows in the Agricultural Hall.