The first reference to the name "Goose Fair" can be found in the Nottingham Borough Records of 1541, where 21 September is referred to as "Goose Fair Day". The name comes from the hundreds of geese that were driven on foot from Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to be sold in Nottingham. The birds' feet were coated with a mixture of tar and sand to protect them on the long journey of fifty miles or more. It is recorded that up to 20,000 geese were driven up through Hockley and along "Goose Gate" into Nottingham's Old Market Square, where the fair was held annually for hundreds of years. The geese were sold in Nottingham to provide the traditional Michaelmas dish of roast goose; geese that had hatched in the spring were ready for the table by the end of September. Michaelmas was celebrated on 29 September to mark the end of the harvest season.