The role of a town crier
Jonathan Jones, whom many will remember from his entertaining talk A Christmas Cracker in December, returns to tell of his time as Farnham’s official town crier from 2003 to 2019.
The first record of a town crier occurred in 1066, commissioned by William the Conqueror. His cries would have been delivered in both Saxon and Latin. Town criers were under the protection of the Crown, and there is still in existence an Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers. In the past they fulfilled an essential role in keeping an illiterate population informed of the news.