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Gypsies and Travellers

31 images Created 2 Aug 2013

There are around 300,000 Romani Gypsies in the UK. They are originally from Northern India and arrived in Britain at the beginning of the 16th century. Irish Travellers (their number is estimated to 30 000 in the UK) arrived much later, mainly in the 20th century and are of Irish origin. Both groups are nomadic although, nowadays, only about 50 % of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain live in caravans. Even if they live in a house, they take their culture inside with them. Yet from different origins, Romani Gypsies and Irish Travellers have always lived alongside and inter-married with each other.

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  • Sarah,16, and George, 17, both English Romany Gypsies are getting married in Wickford, Essex
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  • Romany English Gypsy Esther Cooper's funerals in Bermondsey, South London. One of her sons was taken out of jail for the day to be able to attend the funerals.
    Gypsies&Travellers-11.jpg
  • Irish Traveller and UK TV celebrity Paddy Doherty's New Year's eve party in a pub in Queensferry, North Wales, 31/12/2011
    Gypsies&Travellers-12.jpg
  • Irish Travellers at UK TV celebrity Paddy Doherty's New Year's eve party in a pub in Queensferry, North Wales, 31/12/2011
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  • Irish Traveller and UK TV celebrity Paddy Doherty, on the site where he lives in Queensferry, North Wales, January 2012
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  • Gypsy boy Dino Evans on the site where he lives in Queensferry, North Wales.
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  • Doran and Connors Families' girls trying on their holy communion dresses, St Albans, January 2012
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  • Irish Traveller boy living on the Cow Roast illegal Irish Travellers site, near Tring (Hertfordshire), a few days before the 20 Irish Travellers families were evicted in July 2003.
    Gypsies&Travellers-17.jpg
  • Irish Traveller woman living on the South Bermondsey Council-owned Travellers' site, London. Each family is allocated a pitch where they can park their caravan and where there is a brich hut with fitted kitchen and bathroom.
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  • Irish Traveller children living on the South Bermondsey Council-owned Travellers' site, London.
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  • Irish Traveller boy at the Appleby horse fair. The Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria is the largest Gypsy and Travellers horse fair in the UK. Tens of thousand of Travellers come from all over the UK and Ireland every year to trade horses and meet up with friends and family in Appleby on the first weekend of June.
    Gypsies&Travellers-1.jpg
  • Irish Traveller kids being told off by their mum, on the South Bermondsey Council-owned Travellers' site, London.
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  • Irish Traveller girl sunbathing on her family's pitch wall on the South Bermondsey Council-owned Travellers' site, London.
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  • Irish Traveller woman playing with the camera  on the South Bermondsey Council-owned Travellers' site, London.
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  • Irish Traveller Mary-Ann in her caravan on the South Bermondsey Council-owned Travellers' site, London.
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  • Irish Traveller children living on the South Bermondsey Council-owned Travellers' site, London.
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  • Irish Traveller men taking a cigarette break from a holy communion celebration on a site in West Drayton, near London.
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  • Irish Traveller grumpy boy outside his family's caravan in Dale Farm. The largest Traveller community in the UK, Dale Farm was under threat of bulldozing. Ninety families were facing the largest eviction of its kind in recent memory, a nightmare which forced its residents to camp again on roadsides and car-parks as the site was finally and violently evicted in October 2011.
    Gypsies&Travellers-26.jpg
  • The largest Traveller community in the UK, Dale Farm was under threat of bulldozing. Ninety families were facing the largest eviction of its kind in recent memory, a nightmare which forced its residents to camp again on roadsides and car-parks as the site was finally and violently evicted in October 2011.
    Gypsies&Travellers-27.jpg
  • Irish Traveller girl showing the "We won't go" sign. Dale Farm in Essex, the UK largest Travellers' site. To support the Irish Travellers who own the land but never got planning permission and were about to be evicted by Basildon Council, some activists set up a Camp, called Camp Constant (after the name of the bailiffs' company, Constant & Co). <br />
Irish Traveller grumpy boy outside his family's caravan in Dale Farm. The largest Traveller community in the UK, Dale Farm was under threat of bulldozing. Ninety families were facing the largest eviction of its kind in recent memory, a nightmare which forced its residents to camp again on roadsides and car-parks as the site was finally and violently evicted in October 2011.
    Gypsies&Travellers-28.jpg
  • English Romany Gypsy Esther Cooper's funerals in South Bermondsey, London. Esther was 85 when she passed away last September, leaving 50 grand-children, so many great-grand-children Babe couldn't tell me how many they were, and even two new-born great-great-grand children...
    Gypsies&Travellers-29.jpg
  • Gypsy boy at the Appleby Horse Fair. The Appleby horse fair is the largest Gypsy and Travellers horse fair in the UK. Tens of thousand of Travellers come from all over the UK and Ireland every year to trade horses and meet up with friends and family in Appleby on the first weekend of June.
    Gypsies&Travellers-2.jpg
  • Dale Farm after the eviction and the destruction by bulldozers. The largest Traveller community in the UK, Dale Farm was under threat of bulldozing. Ninety families were facing the largest eviction of its kind in recent memory, a nightmare which forced its residents to camp again on roadsides and car-parks as the site was finally and violently evicted in October 2011.
    Gypsies&Travellers-30.jpg
  • Dale Farm Travellers Site, February 2012, four months after the eviction. Irish Traveller grumpy boy outside his family's caravan in Dale Farm. The largest Traveller community in the UK, Dale Farm was under threat of bulldozing. Ninety families were facing the largest eviction of its kind in recent memory, a nightmare which forced its residents to camp again on roadsides and car-parks as the site was finally and violently evicted in October 2011.
    Gypsies&Travellers-31.jpg
  • Gypsy family at the Appleby Horse Fair. The Appleby horse fair is the largest Gypsy and Travellers horse fair in the UK. Tens of thousand of Travellers come from all over the UK and Ireland every year to trade horses and meet up with friends and family in Appleby on the first weekend of June.
    Gypsies&Travellers-3.jpg
  • Gypsy man at the Appleby horse fair which is the largest Gypsy and Travellers horse fair in the UK. Tens of thousand of Travellers come from all over the UK and Ireland every year to trade horses and meet up with friends and family in Appleby on the first weekend of June
    Gypsies&Travellers-4.jpg
  • Gypsy family at the Appleby horse fair is the largest Gypsy and Travellers horse fair in the UK. Tens of thousand of Travellers come from all over the UK and Ireland every year to trade horses and meet up with friends and family in Appleby on the first weekend of June.
    Gypsies&Travellers-5.jpg
  • 7th of September 2010, Travellers' eviction by bailiffs company Constant & Co, in Hovefields, Basildon, Essex. 7 Irish Travellers families were evicted from their own lands.
    Gypsies&Travellers-6.jpg
  • 7th of September 2010, Travellers' eviction by bailiffs company Constant & Co, in Hovefields, Basildon, Essex. 7 Irish Travellers families were evicted from their own lands.
    Gypsies&Travellers-7.jpg
  • Christmas lights on the South Bermondsey Travellers' site, London
    Gypsies&Travellers-8.jpg
  • Irish Travellers girl holding her brother in Dale Farm, the largest Traveller community in the UK, Dale Farm was under threat of bulldozing. Ninety families were facing the largest eviction of its kind in recent memory, a nightmare which would force its residents to camp again on roadsides and car-parks. The site was eventually violently evicted in October 2011.
    Gypsies&Travellers-9.jpg
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Elisabeth Blanchet

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