INDUSTRIES 



appointed in 1591. They were two in 

 number and had a fee of \A, ' for every flore,' 

 the payment being divided equally between 

 the seller and buyer. A fine of id. was levied 

 for every quarter sold without the assistance 

 of the ' mesures,' who forfeited their fees if 

 they were not in attendance. 1 A heavy fine 

 of ids. for every pot of liquor was ordered to 

 be levied in 1579 on all innkeepers, vintners or 

 victuallers who should ' brue in his Howse 

 any Beere or Ale to be sold offerid or drunke 

 in his Howse, either by the pinte potte, 

 quarte pottell, or gallon potte.' 2 The 

 privileges of the brewers were not to be inter- 

 fered with by any unauthorized persons who 

 presumed to brew and sell beer in his own 

 hostelry. The malting trade increased enor- 

 mously in the town and district of Abingdon 

 in succeeding years, and large quantities were 

 sent by boat to London. By the Act of 

 Parliament (7 & 8 George IV. c. 52, par. 76), 

 if malt was damaged by fire or water, an 

 allowance equal to the whole of the duty, if 

 totally destroyed, or part if the damaged malt 

 be sold on salvage, was allowed. A hundred 

 years earlier a somewhat similar Act was in 

 force, and the books of the Berkshire County 

 Sessions, from the date of their earliest 

 existence in 1726, record the rebatements 

 granted to the maltsters on the loss of malt 

 owing to the wrecking of barges on the stormy 

 and lockless reaches of the Thames. Thus on 

 II April 1726 Benjamin and Joseph Tomkins 

 exhibited complaint alleging that about the 

 3rd day of March last 130 qrs. of malt was 

 greatly damaged by means of the casting 

 away or sinking of a certain barge or vessel in 

 the river of Thames at or near Purley called 

 King's Arms, transporting malt from Abing- 

 don to London. Tomkins had paid the duty, 

 and appealed to the Sessions for rebatement 

 thereof, and drawback or allowance of 3/. 6d. 

 for each quarter of malt was granted. Like 

 abatements were made on other occasions. 



Nor was the county entirely ignorant of 

 the making of cider, as Charles Pocock of 

 Abingdon made cider about this period, and 

 exhibited complaints alleging that several 

 hogsheads of cider had leaked. 3 Cider was 

 also made at Sotwell in the early part of the 

 last century, chiefly by Mr. John Wilson, who 

 formerly lived at Mackney Court, Brightwell. 

 The cider-press was long in existence, and also 

 at Croft House, Sotwell. Mr. Wilson was an 

 apple merchant. 



1 Rec. of Abingdon, p. 129. 

 J Ibid. p. 126. 



3 MS. Records of Quarter Sessions, preserved at 

 Reading. 



The records taken from the Berkshire 

 Quarter Sessions are interesting, and could be 

 extended indefinitely, as showing the con- 

 siderable extent of the malting trade in the 

 eighteenth century, which was carried on not 

 only in the towns but also in the numerous 

 villages of the county. These ' malt orders ' 

 show only the amount of the damaged 

 material, which was considerable, but it may 

 be presumed that a very large number of 

 barges found their way safely to the metro- 

 polis, and that only a small proportion of the 

 total amount of malt sent to London is 

 recorded in these interesting Sessions books. 

 Shellingford was at one time the centre of a 

 large trade in malt, where there were not less 

 than six malthouses, three of which were 

 double. Two very substantial malthouses 

 stood near the bridge, but most of the build- 

 ings have been demolished. Although the 

 trade has very considerably declined in many 

 Berkshire villages, in the neighbourhood of 

 Abingdon, Wallingford, Newbury, Maiden- 

 head and elsewhere, old malthouses are still 

 standing, memorials of an industry which is 

 now in many places completely decayed. 



Not all the malt manufactured in Berks 

 was conveyed to London. In addition to the 

 great brewers who, as we have seen, carried on 

 their business in the chief towns, there were 

 innumerable private breweries. It was the 

 fashion in the eighteenth and early nine- 

 teenth centuries for each squire or occupier 

 of a considerable house to brew his own beer, 

 and as this county has always been an impor- 

 tant residential neighbourhood, the number 

 of private brewhouses was very considerable. 

 An advertisement in Henry's Reading Journal 

 (29 Oct. 1747) records the sale of such an 

 establishment : ' To be sold at Squire Dough- 

 tyes at Beenham a complete set of brewing 

 vessels, the copper holds about 80 gallons, 

 with mash tub, underbank, couler, Tun etc.' 

 Such was the usual equipment of every 

 country house, and the maltster's skill was 

 needed to supply the necessary malt for these 

 private breweries. The itinerant brewer, who 

 went.from house to house, was a notable person, 

 whose services were in great request, and the 

 yeomen and farmers, no less than the squire, 

 all brewed their own beer. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Abingdon in 1830 there were eleven 

 malting establishments. The Cheer family 

 and Cousins had malthouses in Ock Street 

 and the former a brewery, E. Wells & Co. 

 and E. Davis in East St. Helens. Sutton 

 Courtenay had two malthouses owned by 

 Pullen & Russ, and Marcham a like number, 

 occupied by Hammans and Stone. John 

 Spenlove was a maltster and brewer at the 



407 



