Appleby Horse Fair is an annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in the town of Appleby in Westmorland and Furness, UK, which takes place over a week in early June, from a Thursday to the following Wednesday, but this is essentially a weekend event, the main days being the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Appleby Fair is unique in Europe and, as well as attracting around 10,000 Gypsies and Travellers, over 30,000 other visitors attend the Fair.
Appleby's medieval borough fair, held at Whitsuntide, ceased in 1885. The 'New Fair', held in early June on Gallows Hill, which was then unenclosed land outside the borough boundary, began in 1775 for sheep and cattle drovers and horse dealers to sell their stock; by the 1900s it had evolved into a major Gypsy/Traveller occasion. Throughout the Fair's history, no group claimed ownership of the Fair or was charged to attend it, staying to one of the Fair's principles of being a people's fair.