Friends, Families and Travellers

Working on behalf of all Gypsies and Travellers regardless of ethnicity, culture or background

Guide to History

 

To understand Gypsies and Travellers today, it is very important to understand their history; where they come from, their traditions, customs and beliefs and how they have been viewed and treated over the ages.

Travellers are part of a tradition which we all have roots in. Humankind has only settled in permanent settlements for the last 5,000 years in Britain and maybe 8,000 years worldwide. Our heritage and folk memory however, is of over 100,000 years of nomadism.

Gypsies have been part of our society for many hundreds of years. They were originally believed to be Egyptians, which is where the name ‘Gypsy’ comes from. The idea that they came from Egypt was probably due to their dark complexion, exotic and colourful clothing and the fact that many groups arrived in Europe from the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean.

However, the Romany language, which is a language unique to Gypsies throughout Europe and is still spoken today, originates from Sanskrit, one of the main root languages of humanity which evolved in the Indian subcontinent. Today, they are believed to have migrated from India through the Middle East, Eastern, Northern and Central Europe and the Mediterranean, eventually reaching England, Scotland and Wales. As they travelled across Europe, they brought with them music, dance, artistry, crafts and language which has become part of our everyday use and integral to our culture.

Within Britain the roads have thronged with travellers of various sorts over the centuries, even before Romanies arrived about 600 years ago. All types and descriptions of Travellers moved around looking for work; selling, buying, spreading the gospels. There has always probably been friction between nomads and the sedentary population - partly from competition for resources and partly from the inherent fear of the free by the settled population.

This reached xenophobic heights in the 16th and 17th century when Gypsies were banned on pain of death from Scotland and several were hung just for being Gypsies. In 1530 an Act concerning Egyptians required them to leave the country on pain of imprisonment or forfeiture of goods. This was followed by various other Acts relating to punishment of vagabonds "calling themselves Egyptians, both genuine and counterfeit, all to be treated as criminals and suffer death and loss of land, goods, without benefit of clergy."

Since then although persecution has continued Gypsies and Travellers have become an established, if not accepted feature of our country. In addition to the Romanies who arrived during the time of Henry VIII the population of Travellers has been swelled by Irish people working on the canals and railways, fleeing from the effects of the mid-nineteenth century famine and after the last world war in response to difficult economic conditions in Ireland. House dwellers have constantly trickled on to the road through force of circumstance or choice - for example it is known that some of the people forced to flee the London bombing and live in the countryside in vehicles during the last war continued to live in vehicles and took to the road never to return to settled accommodating.

Traditionally Travellers integrated with the local rural economy via seasonal agricultural labour and also by supplying other needs of the rural population. With increasing mechanisation the need for seasonal labour slackened during the 1950’s and many travellers forsook the rural for the urban and semi-urban environment. Increasingly employment opportunities centred around scrap dealing, car dealing and tarmac laying.

Current accommodation sites for Travellers are diverse and some of them represent the worst examples of ‘housing’ to be seen in Britain. Although some Travellers live on well maintained, well run council sites there are many examples which are no more than ghettoes. These sites are usually fenced off from the rest of the population in places, usually next to the railway tracks where no one else would want to live and where they cannot be seen. Sites are often dangerously close to industrial premises and some have high tension power cables a few feet from the tops of the caravans which most traditional Travellers live in. However, at least these sites have access to some services - water and toilets are readily available, as is physical access to local schools.

On unauthorised sites which can be in such diverse urban locations as yards of disused factories, underneath urban motorways (which have all the attendant health hazards from traffic fumes) access to normal facilities can be nonexistent. Water may have to be obtained from garages or churches, toilets in garages or public toilets used. For a bath many traditional Travellers used to resort to public baths but with their demise access to such facilities have become nonexistent. Since unauthorised sites can change frequently due to evictions, access to health, education and social services can be difficult or impossible for Travellers.

Taken from an article by Steve Staines of FFT: "Travellers and the Built Environment".
For the full version please visit http://tash.gn.apc.org/trav_fft.htm

For the History of Laws concerning Gypsies and Travellers click here

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