A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



Street, Gray's Inn Lane, can show twenty-four 

 tuns, containing in all 35,000 barrels. In the 

 present year he has built a vessel 60 feet in 

 diameter, 176 feet in circumference, and 23 feet 

 in height. It cost 5,000 in building, and con- 

 tains from ten to twelve thousand barrels of beer, 

 valued at about 20,000. A dinner was given to 

 200 people at the bottom, and 200 more joined 

 the company to drink success to the vat. 



Another vat of even greater dimensions was, 

 about the time that Pennant wrote, constructed 

 by this firm in their no. 3 store. This was 

 called the 'X.Y.Z.,' and exceeded in size 

 all similar vessels constructed before or since ; 

 its capacity was for 20,000 barrels of porter, 

 and it cost 10,000. At that time the Lon- 

 don porter brewers strove in rivalry for the 

 possession of the largest vat. These enormous 

 receptacles were afterwards disused, their 

 places being taken by about five thousand 

 casks of ale. A plentiful supply of water was 

 obtained from two wells and from the New 

 River Company, being pumped for storage 

 into four large reservoirs on the roofs of the 

 buildings. In the fermenting rooms were 

 four huge rounds, the largest of which con- 

 tained 56,700 gallons, besides two smaller 

 ones. Two of these vessels were regarded as 

 being the largest of their kind in London, and 

 rose 1 2 ft. above the floor. 



A well-furnished library was provided by 

 the firm for the use of their staff of officials 

 and workmen. This was founded in 1860, 

 but the new building containing it, known as 

 the Griffin Library House, was built in 1883. 

 In June 1898 this brewery was amalgamated 

 with the Stag Brewery of Messrs. Watney & 

 Co., the buildings in Clerkenwell Road being 

 pulled down. 



The Woodyard Brewery, of Castle Street, 

 Long Acre, situated midway between the 

 City and the West End of London, took its 

 name from the original occupation of Thomas 

 Shackle, a dealer in timber, who founded it in 

 1740. Shackle is said to have delivered his 

 beer in small casks with his wood, and by his 

 energy and diligence to have built up a valu- 

 able business. He was succeeded by a Mr. 

 Gyffbrd, of whom no further record remains, 

 but at the beginning of the igth century the 

 brewery was acquired by Mr. Harvey Christian 

 Combe, who was remarkable for his energy 

 and great business ability. He became Lord 

 Mayor in 1799, and was returned five times 

 as the City's representative in Parliament. 

 Alderman Combe was a man of liberal tastes, 

 fond of good company, and quick at repartee. 

 A dinner which he gave on 7 June 1807 

 became known as the Royal Brewhouse 

 Dinner, and was widely talked of in all parts 



of London. From a newspaper report of the 

 time we learn that the company included the 

 Duke and Duchess of York, the Duke or 

 Cambridge, the Earl of Lauderdale, Lord 

 Erskine, Sheridan, Stepney, and others, who 

 were received by the alderman and his family 

 and conducted to an upper floor of the brew- 

 house, where a table was prepared for their 

 reception furnished only with such requisites 

 as the brewhouse could supply. The table- 

 cloth was a hop-sack nailed to the table, the 

 plates were wooden trenchers, with wooden 

 bowls for salads, wooden salt-cellars, bone 

 spoons, and Tunbridge-ware pepper-castors. 

 The provisions consisted of rump steaks cooked 

 by the brewhouse stoker, and served in a new 

 malt-shovel covered with a tin lid, porter 

 being the only beverage. After an inspection 

 of the brewery the company were taken by 

 the alderman to his house in Great Russell 

 Street, where they were entertained with a 

 second course and dessert which included 

 every delicacy of the season. 



The business was largely increased under 

 the management of Mr. Combe, who ex- 

 pended a considerable sum in the repair and 

 rebuilding of the brewery premises. On his 

 death in 1832 the brewery passed to his son, 

 Mr. Harvey Combe, and his brother-in-law, 

 Mr. Delafield, by whom the premises were 

 still further enlarged. Mr. Harvey Combe, 

 who was a great sportsman and well-known 

 as the master of the Berkeley Hounds, died 

 unmarried in 1858. He was succeeded by 

 his two nephews, Messrs. R. H. and Charles 

 Combe, Mr. Joseph Bonsor and his two sons, 

 and Mr. John Spicer. Under the manage- 

 ment of these partners the brewhouse property 

 was still further extended, and ultimately 

 covered more than 4 acres. The premises 

 comprised three extensive blocks of buildings, 

 the first being the brewhouse quadrangle, 

 offices, and fermenting rooms ; the second, 

 malt stores, other fermenting rooms, and cel- 

 lars ; the third, stables, dray -sheds, and general 

 stores. The water, or ' liquor ' as the brewers 

 term it, required for brewing purposes was 

 supplied in part by the New River Company 

 and partly by three deep wells sunk by the 

 firm upon the premises. The cooperage de- 

 partment, in which casks were both constructed 

 and repaired, was on an extensive scale. 

 The brewery employed about four hundred 

 and fifty hands, and the annual output exceeded 

 500,000 barrels. In June 1898 this business 

 was also acquired by Messrs. Watney & Co. 



The Horse Shoe Brewery of Messrs. 

 Meux & Co. at the junction of Tottenham 

 Court Road and Oxford Street forms a pic- 

 turesque object in an old print of the 



74 



