Celebrating Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month 2025

By Dr. Annabel Tremlett | University of Portsmouth

Honouring Rich Heritage

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (GRTHM) celebrates the vibrant cultures, stories, and contributions of these communities to UK history and present day life.

This year, the University of Portsmouth Library is proud to host an exhibition dedicated to Traveller culture in Hampshire – with a special focus on the Wickham Horse Fair, one of Britain’s oldest and most significant traditional gatherings.

Wickham Horse Fair: A Living Tradition

Every May 20th, the small village of Wickham (10 miles north of Portsmouth) bursts into life as horse dealers, families, and visitors converge to trade, celebrate, and preserve a centuries-old tradition.

The fair dates back to 1269, when King Henry III granted a Royal Charter. Today, it includes:

Traditional horse parades
Vibrant market stalls
A lively funfair in the town square
Deep-rooted community interactions and heritage storytelling

I attended the fair with Cushty Pompey, our Portsmouth-based forum of professionals and community members engaging with GRT matters.

Dr Annabel Tremlett with members of ‘Cushty Pompey’ at Wickham Horse Fair, May 20th 2025. Pictured in the middle is Stephen Hull, from a Showmen background who is also an award-winning police community support officer and attends such events as a Liaison Officer.

A Day of Colour, Culture, and Connection

Photos of Wickham Horse Fair and stalls that lined the street, May 20^th 2025.

Everywhere I looked, there was life. Stalls sold bijou children’s wear, fancy ceramics, and even realistic toy horses. Ponies and traps raced along Winchester Road, a spectacle for locals and visitors alike.

However, one detail struck me: the closed businesses. Only a fish and chip shop and a children’s clothing store were open, and doing a roaring trade. There were various signs reporting closure of pubs, shops, even toilets, which, whilst often apologetic, when seen together felt unwelcoming.

Closure sign for the toilets at Shell Garage, Wickham.

Echoes from the Past

I also couldn’t fail to observe a more ancient sign – that many other visitors walked past without noticing – on the Old Barracks on Bridge Street, dating to 1495. It referenced “vagrants,” a term that from the 16th century became entangled with discrimination against itinerant groups such as Gypsies, tinkers, and pedlars. Historians like David Mayall and David Cressy reveal how these laws aimed to control populations and undermine nomadic lifestyles

Sign on The Old Barracks on Bridge Street, Wickham, dating back to 1495. Note the use of the word ‘vagrants’ – often used interchangeably with ‘Gypsies’ at that time.

Changing Media Narratives

Unlike in past years — when headlines often sowed tension — 2025’s coverage was largely positive. Even the worst headline grabbers were counteracted by positive ones – see these two reports from The Sun and then The Daily Mail – both known for being notoriously anti-Traveller:

Incredibly, the Wickham Horse Fair even received a mention in Pakistan’s English-language daily, Dawn.

Photo of *Dawn* newspaper sent by a friend living in Pakistan.

Conversations, Connections, and Community

There were no arrests or reported damage, despite the large turnout. I spoke with lots of people about the horses and ponies they were selling or just showing off. I chatted with the representatives from animal welfare charities who come every year – not because they are particularly worried about the horses – but rather as they learn so much from Travellers about ways to care for horses and ponies. Like everyone else, they enjoy catching up with people and their animals that they’ve come to know over the years.

Particular highlights: a toy horse stall owner proud of her grandmother’s birth certificate listing “hawker” as her parents’ occupation — a treasured family legacy. Or how one young woman copes with the current cost of living crisis by living in a static mobile home, loving the camaraderie of the community on her site and the help she gets with her young baby, even though she isn’t from a Traveller background. I loved seeing people catching up with each other, clearly enjoying swapping family gossip and cooing over new additions.

Looking Ahead

It was a sunny, joyful day filled with tradition, history, and genuine connection. A family from Portchester even promised to share a handwritten family history passed down through generations — I can’t wait to read it!

Wickham Horse Fair is already in my calendar for 2026. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (GRTHM) has been celebrated in June since 2008.

For more information see the following organisations:

Friends, Families and Travellers: https://www.gypsy-traveller.org/
The Traveller Movement: https://travellermovement.org.uk/
Roma Support Group: https://www.romasupportgroup.org.uk/
European Roma Rights Centre: https://www.errc.org/
European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture: https://eriac.org/about-eriac/

Key academic texts

For an overview of the key literature on racism against Gypsy, Roma and Travellers, see

Tremlett, A., Kóczé, A. and Clark, C. (forthcoming) ‘Racism against Roma, Gypsy and Traveller People’. In Solomos, J. Routledge Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, pre-print version available here:
Baker, Daniel and Hlavajova, Maria (eds.) 2013. We Roma: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art (BAK and Valiz: Utrecht and Amsterdam). pp.7-48.
Cressy, D. (2018) Gypsies: an English History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crowe, D. M. (2007) (second edition) A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
Fraser, A. (1995) (second edition) The Gypsies. (Oxford: Blackwell publishing)
Kóczé, A., Zentai, V., Jovanovic, J., Vincze, E. (eds.). 2019 The Romani Women’s Movement: Struggles and Debates in Central and Eastern Europe. London: Routledge.
Mayall, David. 2003 Gypsy Identities 1500-2000: From Egipcyans and Moon-men to the Ethnic Romany (London: Routledge)

Visit the GRTHM Exhibition

June 2025
University of Portsmouth Library