I've been reading, for another researcher, a draft of a piece about Widecombe/Widdicombe Fair that is still growing from article length to (small) book length, and should be published later this year. It is a fascinating study, though it probably won't get back to the 'true' origin of the song.

Most people are familiar with the 8 verse version published by Baring-Gould in 1889. He deliberately left one verse out so that it would fit on the page. He actually left Peter Gurney out of the chorus in the early edition of Songs of the West, probably;y by accident, as he re-appeared in 1991. The song, though, was certainly in existence before he published it. SB-G himself tells of a friend of his aunt's, Frances Adams, having heard it sung by her mother in about 1822 (before the established date of Widecombe Fair).

It appears that a version very similar to Baring-Gould's was published in Kingsbridge a few months before he started collecting songs. But there were versions of 'Hoodycock Fair' being sung in East Devon and North Devon in the middle of the Nineteenth Century.

There is certainly, as Baring-Gould stated, a link between the names of the excursionists and Sticklepath residents (they are mentioned on a plaque in the village hall), but the names in the other early version, such as that from the Westaway family vary considerably - and their number varies from 6 to 9. And, while it looks likely that the song originated in Devon, it is by no means certain.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished article.

Martin