A Teenager Finished a Downhill Race in His Socks at a Dartmoor Fair Stripped of Every Sheep and Cow
All livestock classes were cancelled because of a bluetongue outbreak, but thousands still came for the race named after the figure in the folk song.
Widecombe Fair was held at Widecombe-in-the-Moor on Dartmoor on 8 September 2026, on its fixed date of the second Tuesday in September, with every sheep and cattle class cancelled as a precaution against a bluetongue outbreak spreading across Devon.
Horse and pony classes went ahead, and thousands attended after morning rain cleared by midday. Tom Mudge won the Uncle Tom Cobley downhill race, staged in the main ring at a quarter to four, with Jessie Boston first woman, Ed Lamb first veteran and Brenda Boston first veteran woman. Samson Pascoe Locke won the under-eighteen category, finishing in his socks after losing both shoes in a bog.
The rest of the programme included a new shire horse display team, the Devon Axe Team incorporating the Devon Lumberjack Championships, terrier racing, a family dog show, tug of war, bale tossing, vintage machinery and a beer tent with folk singers and bands.
The fair was first documented in the Plymouth Gazette in 1850 as a cattle fair, with a schoolchildren's sports day added in the 1920s. It was cancelled during both world wars, in 1989 because of equine flu, when terrier races replaced the horse classes, in 2001 during foot-and-mouth disease and in 2020. A local resident rides a grey horse in costume as Uncle Tom Cobley, the figure from the folk song that made the fair famous.
The fair remains entirely volunteer run, with proceeds going to local good causes. Its chair Mike Pascoe thanked all who helped, said they knew who they were and were as ever amazing, and looked ahead to 2027.