A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



House.' Allusion has already been made to 

 the Abbey Brewery, which was formerly 

 carried on by the Spenlove family and pre- 

 vious to them by the Child family. The 

 old abbey buildings were used for the business. 

 The Belcher family formerly held the Eagle 

 Brewery, which is now the headquarters of 

 the present firm of Morland & Co. Most 

 of the buildings are old, and include the quaint 

 early eighteenth century malthouse, as well 

 as the new malthouse erected in 1904. 

 About 100 men are employed. 



At Aldermaston there is an old-established 

 brewery which was founded in 1770. It was 

 purchased by the late Thomas Strange in 

 1833 and is now carried on by his grandson, 

 John Thomas Strange. The brewery covers 

 a large amount of land. It has its own 

 artesian well, 160 ft. deep, which supplies 

 water of great purity taken from the chalk. 

 The machinery is worked by water power 

 derived from the Kennet and Avon Canal. A 

 staff of about thirty men is employed. 



Reading has several large and important 

 breweries. Messrs. H. & G. Simonds, Limi- 

 ted, are the proprietors of ' The Brewery,' 

 Reading. It was founded at the corner of 

 Broad Street during the latter part of the 

 eighteenth century by Mr. William Blackall 

 Simonds, the ancestor of the present directors. 

 The premises being found too small in 1790 

 the brewery was transferred to its present site 

 in Bridge Street on the west bank of the river 

 Kennet, where Mr. Simonds erected a twenty- 

 five-quarter plant, together with malthouses 

 and stabling sufficient for his requirements. 

 The business developed slowly until the time 

 of the son of the founder, Mr. Blackall 

 Simonds, a famous sportsman, who antici- 

 pating the passing of the Duke of Wellington's 

 Beerhouse Act bought up suitable land in the 

 neighbourhood for erecting public-houses, 

 and when the Act was passed built the beer- 

 houses, and greatly developed the trade. He 

 took into partnership his brothers Henry 

 and George, and their descendants are the 

 directors of the present firm which in 1885 

 was converted into a private limited company. 

 The premises cover seven acres, and over 200 

 workmen are employed in addition to a staff 

 of clerks, travellers, etc. The firm has a 

 considerable military trade, and established 

 depdts at Malta and Gibraltar, and eleven 

 branch houses in this country. 



The Royal Albert Brewery is an old- 

 established firm, the property of Messrs. 

 James Dymon Brown & Son, Limited. It 

 was founded nearly 100 years ago by the 

 grandfather of the present senior partner of 

 the firm. They have a thirty-quarter plant, 



and the buildings are constructed on modern 

 principles. Another important firm is that 

 of Messrs. Blandy & Hawkins, who own the 

 Castle Brewery in Bridge Street. This 

 brewery was established at the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century. John Mills owned the 

 property in 1698, but it is not known whether 

 he was a brewer. Robert Noakes was estab- 

 lished as a brewer in 1720. The Dean family 

 held it from 1754 to 1773. The Tanners, 

 Harmans, Rickmans and Rickfords were some 

 of the owners. In 1847 the firm was Rickford 

 & Hawkins, and 1856 Blandy & Hawkins. 

 In 1888 a large part of the brewery was burnt, 

 and replaced with modern plant. The old 

 stone houses still remain, and also part of the 

 old brewery with the old-fashioned horse 

 wheel. The amalgamation in 1856 of the 

 ' Mill Lane ' and ' Castle ' Breweries led to 

 the partnership of Messrs. Blandy & Hawkins. 

 The Mill Lane Brewery was bought in 1831 

 by Messrs. Willots and John William Stevens, 

 and then passed into the possession of Mr. 

 William and Charles Blandy, until 1856, when 

 part of the brewery was demolished. The 

 private house still stands as the clothing 

 factory of Thomas Cooke & Sons, and the malt- 

 house is still used by the present firm. Messrs. 

 Ferguson & Sons have a brewery in Broad 

 Street. There are several other breweries in 

 the town of Reading, which maintain the 

 reputation of Reading ales. A hundred 

 years ago the trade in Reading was consider- 

 able. There were at that period five brew- 

 eries in the town. Messrs. Stephens was then 

 the principal firm. It produced 25,000 

 barrels of beer and porter annually, and Dr. 

 Mavor states that the other breweries were 

 likewise very considerable, and that large 

 quantities of malt were made there for the 

 London market, 10,000 quarters being sent 

 annually to London. 



At Maidenhead there are two breweries of 

 note, Messrs. Fuller Story & Co., Limited, 

 who own the Bell Brewery, and Messrs. 

 Nicholson & Sons, Limited, in High Street. 

 The South Berks Brewery Co. is carried 

 on by Messrs. Hawkins & Parfitt at Newbury 

 and Hungerford, and at the former town the 

 Newbury Brewery Co., Limited, thrives, 

 and at the latter the Crown Brewery is con- 

 ducted by Mr. Thomas Crook. 



Nor is this industry confined to the prin- 

 cipal towns. Brewing may be said to be a 

 village industry, and quite small places can 

 boast of their breweries. The following are 

 the chief : at Harwell there is the brewery of 

 Mr. W. H. Beesley; at Theale, Blatch's 

 brewery ; at Ashbury, Mr. T. J. Carter's 

 brewery ; at Waltham St. Lawrence, near 



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