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1677 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Oxford-shire 203 In the Northern part of Oxfordshire,..it has always been the custom at set times of year, for young people to meet to be hired as servants; which meeting, at Banbury they call the Mop; at Bloxham the Statute.

1743 in J. Noake Rambler in Worcs. A mapp will be held at the same time for the hiring of servants.

1797 F. M. Eden State of Poor I. 33 (note) In Gloucestershire..servants continue to attend the mopp or statute, as it is called (i.e. Michaelmas fair), in order to be hired.

c1830 Mrs. Sherwood in Houlston Tracts III. No. 62. 3 It is an ancient custom..for servants out of place to assemble, once a year, in or near some great town, for the purpose of being hired. I have heard my mother say, that formerly each person carried a mop, or a broom, or a flail,..or some other badge denoting the office in which they desired to engage; but this was done away with before my time. In this assemblage, which is called a mop, persons in want of servants generally make their choice.

1859 All Year Round 12 Nov. 52 The provincial policeman had said that it was the Mop, or, as the officer pronounced it, the Mope-day.

1894 Westm. Gaz. 13 Oct. 5/3 Stratford-on-Avon ‘mop’, said to be the largest statute fair in England, was held yesterday.

1951 Recorded Interview (Brit. Libr. Sound Archive) (Survey Eng. Dialects: C908) Track 58 They used to roast a beast, they call it a mop. Roast a carcass, sell it, then there were shows and bucks and booze.

1999 Coventry Evening Tel. (Nexis) 16 Oct. 3 Roads closed as Mop comes to town. Southam town centre will be closed to traffic on Monday as thousands of people gather for the annual Mop fair.

2017 @RNTomlinson 22 Oct. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Thank GOD Warwick Mop is over for another year!