INDUSTRIES 



selling smaller beer (mlnorem cervisiam) than at 

 the rate of one ale-quart {unum le alequarte) 

 for li.' 



The brewing industry was of early import- 

 ance at Lyme Regis, where the abbot of Sher- 

 borne claimed the assize of beer in 1280.° In 

 35 Henry VIII Isabella Stansby and another, 

 common brewers, were presented for brewing 

 ale ' not mighty of the corn,' that is, too thin 

 and unwholesome, and also for selling the same 

 in unlawful measures, and were fined bd. In 

 1572 brewers were ordered to brew with fuel, 

 not with hard or faggot wood, on pain of 51. In 

 1578 six common brewers only, including re- 

 tailers of ale and beer, were licensed in the 

 town, besides the brewer ' who doth and shall 

 keep the Beer House.' ' None were to sell beer 

 in 1582 except in hooped pots, jugs and cups 

 being expressly forbidden.* 



Municipal regulations were many with regard 

 to the conduct of the industry. Tipplers or 

 retailers were forbidden to sell to any craftsman 

 or servant except in company with a stranger.' 

 In 1 61 2 none were to tipple more than one hour 

 in one house. By a decree dating from 1599 

 beer was forbidden to be sold during Divine 

 service. Mr. Hooker of Lyme at a later date 

 was fined 2J. td. for brewing on a fast-day.^" 



The alewife here, as elsewhere in mediaeval 

 times, an important member of the community, 

 gave frequent trouble to the authorities, who, at 

 Weymouth, in the reign of Charles I, forbade 

 brewing to be carried on by women ; they were, 

 instead, to buy of the common brewers at the 

 following rates : — 



Weymouth Lyme 

 The better sort under 



the range ... 3./. . . . 31?'. 



Middle id. ... id. 



Small \d. . . . Id.'' 



At Lyme in 1653 *^^ Widow Brooks was 

 dismissed from brewing and selling ale ' for 

 divers disorders.' ^^ Bodily punishment was fre- 

 quently inflicted on offending alewives, as in the 

 case of Mary Somers, who was whipped at Lyme 

 in 1653 for selling ale without a licence.'^ 



It is desirable ^* to note here the earliest indi- 

 cations of the change of taste by which the old 

 English ale {cervisia) was gradually supplanted by 

 beer in the strict sense, that is, the hopped 

 liquor. It is probable from notices of a con- 

 siderable import trade in hops which we find 

 elsewhere," that beer was brewed in Dorset 



' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 586. 

 ' Roberts, Hist, of Lyme Regis, 1 1 . 

 ' Ibid. 453. Mbid. 454. 



'Ibid. 453. "Ibid. 254. 



" Roberts, Soc. Hist. Southern Counties, 456. 

 " Ibid. 454. " Ibid. 



'* For this paragraph Mr. C. H. Vellacott is 

 responsible. 



" V.C.H. Suss, ii, 261. 



before the middle of the fifteenth century, but 

 however this may be, it is certain that by the 

 reign of Edward IV regular supplies of hops were 

 arriving in the port of Poole from the Nether- 

 lands. In the sixth year of his reign, '^ the Mary 

 Knyght, of ' Tergose ' in Zeeland, master Adryan 

 Cornelis, brought in 6 ' pokis ' of hoppes valued at 

 ;^i, which paid is. in subsidy and 2,d. in customs 

 duty. On the 16 September, a ' scowte ' called 

 the Katherine '' of Bergen op Zoom {Barowe), 

 William Van Aeon, master, entered with 2 sacks 

 of hops on board worth 30J. The alien master 

 paid on these is. 6d. subsidy and ^.^d. customs 

 duty. In the following year the same vessel 

 brought in again 2 sacks of hops as well as a 

 great quantity of Flemish tiles. This time appar- 

 ently the hops were valued at loj. 10^., and the 

 2 ' pokes ' of hops brought in by the James,^^ 

 another Dutch 'scowte,' of ' Tergoos,' on 24 

 February, 1468, were entered at loj. only. But 

 such fluctuations in price will be understood by 

 any person conversant with the history of the 

 hop market. The export trade in ale from Poole 

 to the Channel Islands was very considerable in 

 the fifteenth century, and early in the reign " of 

 Henry VII we hear not only of ordinary ale, but 

 of an export of no less than 22 casks {dolia) of 

 'byre' worth ;{^22. Malt also had long before 

 this been exported from Dorset, since, on 30 

 September, 1467, the Mary, of Poole, took out, 

 amongst a miscellaneous cargo, 12 quarters of 

 malt valued at 45. the quarter. 



As regards the Irish trade,'" it may be well 

 worth notice that a Youghal vessel which entered 

 Poole late in the reign of Henry VII with fish, 

 as well as mantles and 98 yds. of frieze, took 

 back a store of food stuffs, bacon, corn, and oat- 

 meal, and also canvas and malt. 



Malt mills were forbidden to be built within 

 the town or manor of Sherborne in mediaeval 

 times, ' whereby the corn mills,' the property of 

 the bishop, ' should be hindered.'^' 



The thriving export trade in beer which Poole 

 carried on with the Channel Islands during the 

 reigns of Elizabeth and James I involved the 

 brewers in litigation with the corporation, who 

 levied an impost of 41. per brewlock of 3 tuns, 

 or id. per kilderkin, on all beer thus exported. ^- 



The brewing industry was turned to account 

 for the employment of — 



Idle persons committed to the House of Correction 

 at Sherborne in 1623, vifhen it vi'as ordered that they 

 should be set to the grinding of malt, which was to be 



'• K.R. Cust. Accts. bdle. 119, No. 8 (6 Edw. IV). 

 " Ibid. 



" Ibid. No. 9 (7-8 Edw. IV). 

 " Ibid. bdle. 120, No. 3 (3-4 Hen. VII). 

 »» Ibid. No. 10 (19-20 Hen. VII). 

 " Wildman, Hist. Sherborne, 54. See ' Soc. and 

 Econ. Hist.' 



»' Roberts, Soc. Hist. Southern Counties, 455. 



367 



