Eastbury Manor and Punchdrunk Enrichment Announce Annual St. Ethelburga's Hallowtide Fair

This Halloween, Punchdrunk Enrichment are working with local Barking and Dagenham residents to reimagine a legendary Hallowtide Fair that visited Barking every October in the nineteenth century but has long been forgotten. Created for and by the community in a magnificent Tudor building - Eastbury Manor House - St Ethelburga's Hallowtide Fair will be a magical experience for local families featuring stalls, festive music and traditional games to captivate all ages.

St Ethelburga was Abbess of Barking Abbey and each October pilgrims would flock to Barking to commemorate her Feast Day. A local fair was held in her honour attracting visitors from far and wide. Eastbury Manor House is an enchanting property that has changed little in appearance since it was built in the 1600s. The building has been used as a museum, an Air Raid shelter, a hospital, a stable, a merchant's house, an outpost to Barking Abbey and may even have played its part in Guy Fawkes' gunpowder plot.

Over the last few months, Punchdrunk Enrichment has invited Barking and Dagenham residents to Eastbury Manor to share memories of the local area and their responses to this extraordinary building. These stories have inspired the Hallowtide Fair which will take place over three days from 31st October to 2nd November and will be designed, built and brought to life by the local community.

This will be a Halloween celebration like no other - something unexpected and new, created from local history, memories and legends. Visitors who delve a little deeper will be rewarded; discovering unexpected mysteries, hidden rooms and surprises within this magnificent Tudor building. As the Hallowtide Fair is brought back to life the stories of the past begin to seep into the present...

Tickets are available to Barking and Dagenham residents here: http://www.thebroadwaybarking.com/event/st-ethelburgas-hallowtide-fair/

St Ethelburga's Hallowtide Fair is a Landmark commission for Creative Barking and Dagenham - a three year project creating unique creative opportunities for Barking and Dagenham and the people that live here.