GautbyGautby is a market town in the County of Marchwood in the south-west of Arransia, standing on the upper reaches of the River Barrow. The river bridge is about 600 feet above sea level, the market place 50 feet higher. The town has a population of about 12,000. Gautby is a Borough in its own right (one of the smaller ones in Arransia) with a council entirely composed of Independents, most of whom tend to be elected unopposed. It is on the mainline railway from Ynysforgan in Brunswick to Ormsby and Ince and back into Brunswick to reach the Tri-Cities. This has been electrified and upgraded for high-speed running, although most of the expresses do not stop at Gautby. There are about four international semi-fast trains a day, plus an approximately two-hourly stopping service to Briggswath and Ormsby worked by electric multiple-units. The Brunswickian railway authorities don’t like steam working under their high-speed catenary (although sometimes tolerating it) and it is very rare to see a steam train at Gautby except for occasional summer weekend specials. There is still a working turntable for turning locomotives around before they reach the Brunswickian border. In recent years, during July and August, there has been a return steam special from the Tri-Cities to Gautby on Thursdays for the market, sometimes electrically-hauled as far as Ormsby, sometimes steam-worked all the way using preserved Brunswickian locomotives.The railway also sees numerous lengthy freight trains heading to or from the new container terminal at Ince. Gautby is too small to operate a municipal transport service, but the green-liveried single-deck vehicles of Southern Omnibus are a common sight and operate a couple of town services as well as routes to neighbouring towns and outlying villages. The weekly livestock market on Wednesdays and general market on Thursdays attract visitors from many miles around, including across the Brunswickian border, and the town is well-known for the colourful miscellany of often vintage buses making an appearance on those days. The market place is the scene of an annual rally of historic buses on the nearest weekend to Barleycorn Day at the end of July. The Barrow is not navigable above Briggswath so there is no water transport. The main A7 road from Briggswath, instead of running up the valley of the Barrow via Harfoot, takes a more direct route across a shoulder of the Southern Wolds. The road originally crossed the river and then turned left before reaching the market place, but in recent years has received a swooping three-lane bypass cutting off the corner. The entire road has now been extensively improved and after the dual-carriageway Briggswath Bypass is now mostly of 2+1 standard as far as the Brunswickian border. Traffic is fairly light, although there is a surprising number of heavy lorries, and it is regarded as one of the “fastest” prolonged stretches of non-Expressway road in Arransia. Gautby is notable for its enormous sloping market place, which is an approximate rectangle 450 yards by 300 yards. Market squares as such are relatively rare in Arransia and this is second only in size to that at Scaggleby in Holburn. There are two groups of island buildings but the Guildhall is off the market place on Bridgegate. This is used on Wednesdays for a massive livestock market, specialising in sheep, and on Thursdays for a general market which has become increasingly popular to the extent that it now sees coach trips from the Tri-Cities. Marchwood’s agricultural produce is the main attraction, but in recent years it has also developed a kind of “New Age” element, although Gautby itself very much has the character of stolid Marchwood yeoman farmers and is not at all hippyish (whereas some of the small, tucked-away Marchwood towns like Stair and Marchwiel are getting a bit that way). Gautby has no manufacturing apart from a small light industrial estate, and most of its workers are engaged in retail trades and businesses serving the surrounding agricultural community. It is in the middle of a large, sparsely-populated area of the Western Wolds which is largely given over to sheep farming. The boundary of the Marchwood Wolds National Park runs close to the town on the western side. Most of the older buildings are constructed of the typical local silvery-grey limestone, although there are one or two ancient half-timbered buildings. The market place has some 19th-century half-timbered facades. It is not a tourist show town, but it has many handsome old buildings and some attractive vistas near the river. It has to be said that the Market Place is a hotch-potch of varied architectural styles and has some pieces of modern infill that stick out like sore thumbs. The squat church of St Matthew seems to nestle under the hillside above the market place. Apart from a 12th century motte it has never had a castle and in the 17th century was deemed unsuitable to receive modern fortifications like the Bentleby Star Fort. The town currently has 31 pubs, which is not an inordinate number for Arransia, but is noteworthy for the fact that 17 of the them are on the market place, including five in a row next to each other at the top of the eastern side, which is believed to be unique in Sabrantia. Until 1933 there was a sixth. Doing the circuit of all 17 is seen in some quarters as a challenge. The most common beer is Bettley’s from Briggswath, one of the hoppiest regular beers in Arransia. Draught cider is also a popular drink. The main hotel is the Pye Arms which stands just off the market place on Uppergate. Perhaps Gautby’s greatest claim to fame is as the location of the annual Midsummer Horse Fair which, while by no means an exclusively Gypsy occasion, is attended by Gypsies from throughout Sabrantia, and indeed from Mayenne too. There is an impressive display of brightly-painted Gypsy caravans. Despite Brunswickian reservations, this continued throughout the Great War, with the 1948 event being remembered as particularly Bacchanalian. While undoubtedly a boisterous occasion, it is generally good-natured with few public order problems. While Gypsies do drink, it is a point of honour amongst their community not to become “drunk”, and what trouble there has been in recent years has tended to come from groups of lads from the Tri-Cities who see it as an opportunity for a good day out drinking. Many have learned to their cost that picking fights witb Arransian Gypsies is not a good idea, although it may seem so after numerous pints of cider. Gautby is home to Gautby Academy, a highly-regarded co-educational independent charitable school with a proportion of boarding pupils. Traditionally, many of the farmers in remote locations would send their children to boarding schools, although improved communications have tended to reduce this in recent years. Marchwood is the most willing of all Arransian counties to spend public funds on sending pupils to private schools.
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