210 Animal and Animal Products Trades 



were from time to time set up and express permission was given to 

 the buyers of fish at these markets to sell them again elsewhere 

 "without any Lett or Disturbance from any Person . . . what- 

 soever for so doing. "^ It was common practice for the Yarmouth 

 and other fishermen to moor their loaded fish vessels in the lower 

 Thames ports and send up only small quantities to market at a time 

 "with a View to keep up the Price of . . . Fish." In 1749 and 

 afterward the fishermen on their arrival on the coast between Yar- 

 mouth and Dover were given eight days within which they must 

 dispose of their fish.^ 



In the latter part of the eighteenth century the market at Billings- 

 gate served the dealers first: "those who kept shops in the various parts 

 of the town" and the "hawkers, who during the forenoon cried them 

 through every street."^ The fish were first sold by the wholesale 

 "Salesmen." The wholesale market opened early in the morning 

 and each "Salesman" continued to sell until he had disposed of all 

 his fish. His place was then taken by the retailer. Usually the 

 wholesalers were done by eight or nine o'clock and the retail market 

 was then begun.* The fishmongers had divided into two distinct 

 and opposed classes — the "salesmen," or fishmongers proper, and the 

 retailers. Another line of cleavage was between the salt-fish trade 

 and the fresh-fish trade. 



The transportation of fish oft'ered a very serious problem in market- 

 ing. In medieval times they were brought mostly by boat and a few 

 by horse and wagon, likely from the lower Thames ports. ^ Besides 

 the poorness of the roads, the perishability of the fish was the chief 

 diflficulty. Packing in ice was first resorted to about 1785." Town 

 hucksters of fish were common at an early date; in London they were 

 called "Birlsters."^ As early as 1380 "ripiers" were listed in the 

 Sussex poll-tax list.* They were carriers of fish from this county to 

 London. The turnpike act of 1709 exempted these ripiers from 

 paying tolls on the Tunbridge Wells-London Road. " Grimsby cod- 

 chests" were a Lincolnshire tradition and were used in transporting 



' 22 Geo. II, Cap. 49; this is illustrative and refers to the Westminster market. 

 This market was a failure: Gent. Mag., 1760: 256. 



2 22 Geo. II, Cap. 49, Sec. 12; Rep. Com. H. C. X, 364. 



^ Middleton, Middlesex, 543. 



^ Rep. from Com. H. C. X, 364, 366. 



■> Lib. Alb. I, LXXV. 



'^Rep. from Com. H. C. X. 369. 



' Lib. Alb. I, LXX\ . 



«V. C. H., Sussex. II, 266. 



