[4] The village was an important centre of the post-medieval iron industry and the nearby Furnace Pond is one of the largest of the artificial lakes made to provide water power for the works.

King Charles I visited the foundry in 1638 to watch a cannon being cast – a bronze four-pounder, forty-two inches long, now preserved in London's White Tower.

The village was home to Jane Austen's grandfather who lived at Broadford, a 15th-century clothmaster's hall, and several other of her relatives.

In 2000, the local parish council with assistance of the then-Home Secretary Jack Straw, ruled that due to ongoing safety concerns, the fair would not go ahead and a 5-mile exclusion zone was put in place.

[6] However, due to protests and legal action from the wider Pavee community, this decision was overturned and the fairs resumed following a compromise between the travellers and the local authorities in 2001.