Frost Fairs were regular occurrences on the River Thames in London between the 17th and the early 19th centuries when the river froze so solidly that large structures could safely be erected there, fires could be lit, and horses could draw carts across the ice, as depicted in this image. The old London Bridge which pulled down in 1825 effectively acted as a weir and prevented tides so that the river above it was more susceptible to freezing. John Evelyn called the fair, which lasted from late December 1683 to early February 1684: 'a bacchanalian triumph or carnival on the water', noting in his diary, 9th January 1684:

'I went crosse the Thames on the ice, now become so thick as to beare not onely streetes of boothes, in which they roasted meate, and had divers shops of wares, quite acrosse as in a towne, but coaches, carts, and horses passed over.' On 23rd January he added: 'The frost continuing more and more severe, the Thames before London was still planted with boothes in formal streetes, all sorts of trades and shops furnish'd and full of commodities, even to a printing presse, where ye people and ladyes tooke a fancy to have their names printed, and the day and yeare set down, when printed on the Thames: this humour tooke so universally, that 'twas estimated the printer gain'd £5. a day, for printing a line onely, at six-pence a name, beside what he got by ballads, &c.'