INDUSTRIES 



munthes of June July and Auguste in any 

 yeare. 



' Fowerthly that noe person that conuerteth 

 any sorte of Graine into maulte to sell shall 

 buy any maulte to sell againe. 



' Fiftly for the better regulateinge of the 

 Traide of mauletinge his majesty pleased that 

 a competente number of meete persons to bee 

 approued in euery county shalbee incor- 

 porated in to a body whoe may take care for 

 the reformeinge of the abuses nowe practised 

 in the said traide of Maulting and none to 

 make maulte to sell againe but such as are 

 under a gouerment and euery maulster 

 admitted of the said society shall use the 

 traide in the Towne or place assigned him by 

 his majesty or by the corporacon and not 

 elsewhere. 



' Sixtly that such persons as shall desire to 

 bee admitted into the corporacon of maules- 

 ters for any county shall first bringe a certificate 

 of the juste length bredth and depth of theire 

 cesternes or steepinge fatts which they use or 

 intend to use in mauletinge. 



' And for the better effecting this his 

 Majestys servis you are to give warraunte to 

 the high cunstables and cunstables in euery 

 hundred to warne to come before you all the 

 maulesters therein to receive from you his 

 majestys pleasure in this buissines.' 



The records of Wallingford, being the 

 oldest in the county, give the earliest inform- 

 ation with regard to the industry of brewing 

 and malting. In the Burghmote Roll for 

 17 Henry III. several women were ' amerced 

 for ale,' i.e. for breaking the assize as to selling 

 ale. 1 This is a very early example of the 

 enforcement of the assize of ale, earlier than 

 the Act mentioned above. A description of 

 the castle of Wallingford is given in I3oo, 2 

 which states that there were two malting 

 mills within the precincts of the castle. 3 

 Ale-tasters discharged their office in Walling- 

 ford at an early period. In 1369 these 

 officers did not perform their duty to the 

 satisfaction of the court of frankpledge and 

 were therefore amerced. At the same time 

 more than twenty persons were presented for 

 selling ale by false assize and for refusing to 

 sell it out of their houses. Two aldermen of 

 the borough, William de Harwell and Henry 

 Redynge, were amongst the offenders, and 

 were fined 3^.* Selling ale by false measures 

 was a common offence. In the seventh year of 

 Richard II. over twenty persons were fined 



i Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi. 573. 

 3 Inq. p.m. 28 Edw. I. No. 44. 



3 Hist, of Wallingford, i. 352. 



4 Hist. A/SS. Com. Rep. vi. 581. 



various sums for brewing contrary to the assize 

 and for selling ale by the cup. One Elias 

 Prestone, a brewer, was fined for refusing to 

 put up a sign without his house, and for 

 refusing to sell ale out of his house. The 

 setting forth of signs and ale-poles before the 

 doors was duly enforced by subsequent enact- 

 ments 5 ; and in the time of Henry VIII. all 

 brewers were ordered to sell thirteen gallons to 

 the dozen of ale for Z2d., so long as a quart of 

 malt was not more than 8^., and all tipsters to 

 sell out of doors a quart of ale for a half -penny 

 while malt was at that price. Brewers were 

 to sell in and serve the town at the same price 

 of one half-penny. 6 



The voluminous records of Reading con- 

 tain a vast number of references to the trade. 

 In a list of the burgesses in 1510 appear the 

 names of Henry White,' bruere,' and Nicholas 

 Nicolas, ' bere-bruer.' The distinction be- 

 tween the ale-brewer and the beer-brewer is 

 noticeable about this time in most of the 

 towns. Beer is made from farinaceous grain, 

 generally from malted barley, flavoured with 

 hops. Old English ale lacked this last in- 

 gredient, as hops were not introduced into 

 this country before the time of Henry IV., 

 and did not come into general use until the 

 reign of Elizabeth. A curious edict of Henry 

 VII. forbade the mixture of either hops or 

 sulphur with beer. Little attention seems to 

 have been paid to this regulation, for in 1552 

 hop plantations were formed. 7 As late as 

 1649 the city of London petitioned Parlia- 

 ment against ' hoppers ' being used, urging 

 that ' this wicked weed would spoil the drink 

 and endanger the lives of the people.' 8 In 

 Berkshire neither drinkers nor makers of drink 

 seem to have feared the effects of the ' wicked 

 weed,' and beer-brewers flourished in all parts 

 of the county. In Reading two men in 1596 

 are recorded as having taken their oaths for 

 the assessing of prices of beer and ale according 

 to the form of the statute. 9 The province 

 of the brewers was sometimes trespassed upon 

 by the inn-holders and alehouse-keepers, who 

 brewed beer and ale on their own premises. 

 This was not permitted by the authorities, 

 and in 1622 the latter were warned not to 

 brew or sell any ale ' but such as is sold a 

 quart a penny of the best and ij quarts of the 



5 Hist, of Wallingford, ii. 77. Ibid. ii. 78. 



7 Hops were cultivated until quite recently at 

 East Hagbourne, and at Little Wittenham at an 

 earlier period, where a plot of ground on the north- 

 west side of the Round Hill still bears the name of 

 the ' Hop Garden field,' and another tract near 

 the park is called the ' Upper Hop Garden.' 



8 Encycl. Brit, iv 272. 



8 Reading Records, i. 438. 



405 



