A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



other.' * The names of the chief brewers in 

 Reading at this period were Mr. Ironmonger, 

 Mr. Winche, and Bernard Harrison, as appears 

 from a record which gives the names of certain 

 offenders who had presumed to draw and sell 

 the beer of their brewers without having a 

 licence. The ale-tasters sometimes were in 

 trouble and lost their position on account of 

 ' partiality in their offices and other mis- 

 demeanors.' 2 In 1627 four brewers satisfied 

 the wants of the town, as appears from the 

 record of the visit of the judges at the Assizes, 

 when each brewer had to provide one barrel, 

 making a total of four barrels. The excessive 

 making of malt seems to have troubled the 

 corporation, and ' Counsell's letters for re- 

 straining ' this excess were read and an 

 inquiry ordered. The corporation called a 

 meeting of the maltsters, brewers of strong 

 beer or ale, and all who had other trades 

 were ordered to be suppressed. In 1630 

 ' the mayor did sett the price of ale and beere, 

 viz. double beere le barell viiis, and soe after 

 that rate ; single beer le barrell iiijs and soe 

 ratably.' 3 The same prices held good for 

 several years, and in 1635 tne price of malt in 

 the market was fixed about 2^s. or 2$s. the 

 quarter. The following is a full list of prices 

 which appears first in 1635, and held good for 

 many years 



Double beere. 



The barrell v'ms. 



The kiderkyn iiij/. 



The firkyn \}s. 



The pipkyn xiid. 



The dussen of ale iiijd. 



Single beere. 



The barrell iiijj. 



The kilderkyn us. 



The virkyn xiid. 



The pipkyn viJ. 



A full quart of the best could be procured 

 for id., and two quarts of the small for the 

 same sum. The conduct of alehouses was 

 watched with careful eyes, especially during 

 the prevalence of Puritan principles. Keepers 

 of alehouses who allowed the playing of 

 cards, or who kept a ' noddye board,' or a 

 ' shovegroat,' or who permitted drinking on 

 the Sabbath, usually lost their licences, and 

 had to take down their sign or allow it to be 

 beaten down. 



Mr. T. Harrison seems to have been the 

 chief brewer in the town at this period. He 

 had a brewhouse parcel of John Alarder's 

 land, for which he paid the rent of 8 a year 

 in 1637, when the lease was renewed. He 



1 Reading Records, ii. 106. 



1 Ibid. ii. 193. ' Ibid. iii. 44. 



was mayor for several years and an alderman 

 of the borough, but fell into evil days. In 

 1644 he desired to be removed from his 

 office, for ' he had lost his estate and was 

 undone.' 4 The siege of Reading and the 

 troubles of the Civil War period appear to 

 have ruined the distinguished brewer who 

 had done such good service to his town and 

 neighbours. The corporation was indebted 

 to him for various sums of money which 

 he had advanced during his prosperity. He 

 seems to have met with nothing but vexatious 

 delays and very little satisfaction in his 

 repeated attempts to obtain justice. 



In the sixteenth century malting was a 

 flourishing trade at Abingdon, and continued 

 to be such until recent times. Brewers and 

 maltsters are enumerated amongst the members 

 of the companies of the town. The Assize 

 of Ale and Beer was entrusted to the Mayor 

 and burgesses by its earliest charter, granted 

 in 1555. 5 The brewing of good ale was 

 deemed a subject worthy of special inquiry 

 by the Grand Jury at the leet or lawday. 

 The members thereof are thus ordered ' to 

 inquire of Brewers and Tipsters whether 

 they make good and holesome Ale and Beere 

 for man's body or not, and sell and alter the 

 same according to the Lawes and Statutes of 

 this Realme. And alsoe they ought not to 

 putt out their signe or Alestake untill their 

 Ale be assayed by the Aletaster and then to 

 sell and not before.' Brewers were fined 

 6s. Sd., for every barrel of beer or Ale which 

 they lay into any man's sellar, to be sold there 

 by retaile, by any that is not licensed to sell 

 Ale or Beer.' 6 The names of the chief 

 maltsters in 1585 at Abingdon are preserved 

 in a decree of the corporation ordering each 

 of them to bring three bushels of malt into 

 the market on market day, and are as follows : 

 Mr. William Braunche, Mr. Lyonell Bos- 

 tocke, Mr. John Fyssher, Mr. Rysbye, Mr. 

 Anthonye Teysdall, Mr. Anthony Bostocke, 

 Mr Blacknoll ' of Banbury curte,' William 

 Welling and Richard Bolte. They seem to 

 have been among the chief men of the town ; 

 most of them held the office of mayor, and 

 the first-named gentleman represented the 

 borough in Parliament. 7 At the same time 

 there were many others who used the trade 

 of malting, all of whom were required to bring 

 into the market two bushels of malt on 

 market days. The trade must therefore have 

 been considerable. Measurers of malt were 



Ibid. iv. 130. 

 8 Rec. of Abingdon, p. 1 8. 

 8 Ibid. pp. xxix., xxx. 

 7 Ibid. pp. 128., xlix., xliv. 



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