Travellers enjoy the sunshine at Appleby Horse Fair as police seize 99 dangerous 'pyramid rings' destined for Europe's biggest gathering of gypsies

Published: 16:15, 5 June 2026 | Updated: 16:16, 5 June 2026 Police have seized 99 potentially dangerous 'pyramid rings' from a vehicle heading to the Appleby Horse Fair. Officers stopped the vehicle near the Cumbrian market town around 1am on Friday as it travelled towards the fair's trade fields. Taking place over a week, the Appleby Horse Fair is the largest traditional gypsy and traveller fair in Europe, attracting around 10,000 travellers. More than 200 officers will work 24 hours a day over the weekend in what is set to be Cumbria Police's biggest-ever operation. After recovering the 99 pyramid rings, the force said they would be destroyed as they can be used as weapons in fistfights. The seizure came a day after officers found air weapons and counterfeit toys also destined for the trade fields at the annual event. In its 250-year history, the horse fair has only been cancelled twice, in 2001 during the foot and mouth outbreak and in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic. It was once thought the fair originated from a royal charter to the borough of Appleby from King James II of England in 1685, although more recent research has found the charter was cancelled before it was ever enacted. Travellers enjoyed the sun as the Appleby Horse Fair began in the Cumbrian market town Police seized 99 potentially dangerous 'pyramid rings' in the early hours of Friday morning from a vehicle headed towards the fair The horse fair is Europe's largest gathering of gypsies and travellers, with 10,000 expected for the week-long event Officers used facial recognition technology as the fair began, which compares live images of individuals to a police watchlist Owners parade their horses on the 'flashing lane', where travellers demonstrate the speed and agility of their animals for potential buyers Crowds gathered to watch the horses as they trotted up and down the flashing lane It was once thought the fair began after a royal charter given to Appleby but recent research has found this to be flawed Police monitored facial recognition cameras from inside a van as the fair began this week Police handcuffed a young man and held him inside a police van as a boy walked by with a horse during the fair A family posed for a picture on the steps of their caravan as they arrived for the fair Other caravans flooded the streets of the town as travellers prepared to gather and trade horses The gathering is sometimes known as 'the New Fair' because Appleby's medieval borough fair, held at Whitsuntide, ceased in 1885. The 'New Fair' began in 1775 for sheep and cattle drovers and horse dealers to sell their stock. By the 1900s it had evolved into a major Gypsy Traveller event which brought families from across the UK and Europe. Police said officers would use live facial recognition technology to find wanted people. Cameras will capture real-time images of faces and compare them with a watchlist to find those of interest to police or who are wanted in the courts. In an update on the second day of the fair, Cumbria Police said: 'Following yesterday's recovery of air weapons destined for the trade fields at Appleby - officers have seized almost 100 pyramid rings. Officers stopped a vehicle in the early hours of this morning (5 June) in the Appleby area, heading to the trade fields for Appleby Horse Fair. 'Officers seized 99 'pyramid rings' after stopping a vehicle at around 1am this morning. The rings will be destroyed.' Dan St Quintin, Police Gold Commander for Appleby Horse Fair, said: 'This is another example of our officers carrying out proactive work to keep people from all communities safe. 'There have been numerous examples around the country of such rings being used to cause significant injury to people so I welcome the fact we have been able to seize these items and have them destroyed before they are made available for sale.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.