In January 1814, two hundred people danced on the River Thames. Not on a boat. Not on a bridge. They were standing directly on the frozen surface of the river itself, watching a circus elephant being led across the ice near Blackfriars.
It was the last great Thames Frost Fair — and one of the strangest, most joyful events in London’s long history.
When Did the Thames Freeze Over?
The Thames froze at least 24 times between 1309 and 1814. The cause wasn’t just unusually cold winters — it was the architecture of the city itself.
Old London Bridge, built in 1209, had 19 stone arches packed so tightly together that they acted as a partial dam. The river slowed to almost nothing as it pushed through the narrow gaps. In a hard winter, that was all it needed. Ice would start forming at the edges and, given enough cold weeks, spread across the full width of the river.
The Thames of that era was also wider and shallower than it is today. London’s Victorian embankments — built in the 1860s — narrowed the channel and sped up the current considerably. Combine the old bridge, the slow current, and the Little Ice Age (a centuries-long period of harsher winters across Europe), and you have a recipe for a river that regularly turned to ice in midwinter.
The hardest winter on record was 1683 to 1684, when the Thames froze for two solid months. The ice was reported to be nearly 30 centimetres thick. Temperatures that year dropped low enough to freeze the sea along parts of the English coastline.
What Actually Happened at a Frost Fair?
Londoners didn’t stay indoors and wait for the thaw. They moved onto the ice within days of the river freezing — and they brought the city with them.
Market stalls appeared first. Vendors sold hot food, roasted meats, spiced wine, gingerbread and ale directly from the ice. The more entrepreneurial set up printing presses and offered visitors a souvenir unique to the occasion: a certificate printed on the frozen Thames itself, stamped with their name and the date. Thousands were produced during the 1814 fair, and several survive today in museum collections.
Deeper into the fairs, the entertainment grew more elaborate. There were bear-baiting rings, skittle alleys, puppet shows and football matches. Coachmen charged fares to drive carriages across the river. Bonfires burned on the ice, their smoke rising above a city that had, temporarily, acquired a new street.
During the 1683 fair, King Charles II and his court walked the length of the river on the ice. During the 1715 fair, a whole roasted ox was the centrepiece. The 1814 fair even had a small printing house publishing a frost fair newspaper.
And then there was the elephant.
In February 1814, a circus elephant was walked across the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge. Whether it was a publicity stunt or a genuine demonstration of the ice’s strength is not entirely clear from the historical record. Either way, it worked — and it became the image most associated with London’s last and most extraordinary frost fair.
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The Bridge That Made It All Possible — and Then Ended It Forever
Old London Bridge was the key to everything. Its narrow arches slowed the Thames to a crawl in winter, giving the ice every chance to take hold. When that bridge was finally demolished in 1831 and replaced with a more open design, the river’s character changed permanently.
At the same time, the great Victorian embankment project of the 1860s narrowed and deepened the Thames. The river that emerged was faster, deeper and considerably harder to freeze. The last frost fair was in 1814. By 1831, it was already physically impossible for another one to happen.
The people who attended the 1814 fair had no idea they were witnessing something that would never happen again. They were simply doing what Londoners had done in cold winters for centuries: getting on with it, and finding a reason to celebrate while they did.
What the Frost Fairs Tell Us About London
The frost fairs matter for reasons beyond spectacle. They showed, more clearly than almost any other historical event, what the Thames meant to ordinary Londoners.
When the river froze, people didn’t mourn the loss of a working waterway. They celebrated the appearance of a new public space. The ice became a marketplace, a fairground, a leveller — dukes and dock workers stood side by side buying gingerbread from the same stall. For a city that was deeply stratified by class, the frost fairs offered something rare: a shared experience with no gate and no fee.
The artist Abraham Hondius painted several of the frost fairs in extraordinary detail. His 1677 painting, now held in the Museum of London, shows a city in full carnival mode — coaches on the ice, tents and stalls, bonfires, crowds, and the great spire of St Paul’s rising above it all in the background. It is one of the most vivid images of old London in existence.
Where to Find the Frost Fair Story Today
The Museum of London, now relocated to its new home at Smithfield Market, holds some of the best frost fair artefacts: printed certificates from the ice, contemporary accounts, and the Hondius paintings. It is worth seeking out on any visit to the city.
The stretch of the Thames where most of the fairs took place — between London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge — is still one of the most historically rich walks in the city. The South Bank Walk passes through this entire area, taking you past 2,000 years of London history in a single afternoon.
If you want to go deeper into the Thames’s past, the mudlarkers who work the Thames foreshore today are still finding objects from the frost fair era — coins, clay pipes, trade tokens and fragments of the printed souvenirs that were sold on the ice.
And if you’re still in the planning stages, our London trip planning guide has everything you need to build your visit around the city’s hidden history.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Thames Frost Fairs
When did the Thames last freeze over?
The last frost fair on the Thames was held in February 1814. After Old London Bridge was demolished in 1831 and the Victorian embankments were built in the 1860s, the river flowed too fast and too deep to freeze again. No frost fair has been possible since.
What did people do at a Thames frost fair?
Londoners held full markets, fairgrounds and festivals directly on the ice. There were roasted ox stalls, skittle alleys, printing presses, puppet shows, football matches, bonfires, and horse-drawn carriages driving passengers across the river. The 1814 fair even featured a circus elephant walking across the ice.
Where can I learn more about the frost fairs in London?
The Museum of London at Smithfield holds frost fair artefacts, including printed certificates produced on the frozen Thames and paintings by Abraham Hondius. Several of his frost fair paintings, including the 1677 depiction, are among the most detailed visual records of the events.
Why does the Thames no longer freeze?
Two factors: Old London Bridge (demolished 1831) had narrow arches that slowed the river, allowing ice to form. The Victorian embankments (built 1860s) then narrowed and deepened the channel, speeding up the current. Today’s Thames flows too fast and too deep to freeze in even the coldest winters.
Stand on Blackfriars Bridge on a cold January morning. Look at the dark water moving fast beneath you. Try to imagine it still — solid and white, a city of bonfires and market stalls laid out on the ice, the smell of roasting meat drifting across a frozen London.
The Thames has not frozen in over two hundred years. But the river that runs beneath your feet is the same river. And somewhere in its long memory, the frost fairs are still there.
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