INDUSTRIES 



trade either could not be, or at least were not, 

 observed, it being more profitable alike to the 

 brewer and his lord for the former to pay a small 

 fine than to endeavour to satisfy the strict re- 

 quirements of the law. Still considerable control 

 was exercised by the manorial authorities, an ale- 

 taster, or ale-conner, being appointed to test the 

 quality of the brew, and an omission to call in 

 his services entailing a fine. 1 Fines were also 

 inflicted for refusing to sell ale for consumption 

 off the premises, for which offence three measures 

 (idrie) of ale, containing 1 2 gallons, were taken 

 from the wife of John Dorkynge at Harting in 

 14.02," and for selling ale by the bowl, or ' dish ' 

 (dish being used in the sense of a cup, as in the 

 old-fashioned expression 'a dish of tea'), instead 

 of in officially stamped measures. At Appledram, 

 between 1422 and 1432, Henry Cobehay, one 

 of several ' hukkesters,' or ale-sellers (as op- 

 posed to brewers), who kept ' cappelboothes,' was 

 presented for breaking the assize, selling by false 

 measure, and commonly selling food and drink 

 by retail. 3 Examples of similar infringements of 

 the regulations might be multiplied almost without 

 end, but would serve no useful purpose. 



Although the output of most of these village 

 brew-houses must have been limited alike by the 

 smallness of their plant and the demands of the 

 locality, there were no doubt in most of the 

 bigger towns establishments of some size for the 

 supply of travellers. Thus when King Edward I 

 was passing through Sussex in 1299 with his 

 suite, 82 gallons of ale were bought at Uckfield 

 from Arnold de Ukfeld for 6s. Sd., and 

 100 gallons at Chichester from Marietta de 

 Kychenere for Ss. 4^., or id. the gallon. 4 In 

 the previous year the brewers of Chichester were 

 paying 555. \d. for ' Burgable,' or burgage rents, 

 while the tolls of ale paid by certain retailers 

 amounted to 5*. 5 At New Shoreham, owing to 

 the large number of foreign merchants who 

 called there, the brewers from the time of the 

 foundation of the town had compounded with 

 their feudal lords of the Braose family, paying 

 them yearly 2^ marks in lieu of the inconvenient 

 system of amercements which were practically 

 equivalent to licences for brewing. 6 In the same 

 way the hundred of Shoyswell made a payment 

 of 2s., subsequently raised to 10*., that the ale- 

 wives might be excused attendance at the 

 lawday.' 6l 



With the fourteenth century we begin to find 

 mentions of a beverage that was soon to rival 

 and eventually displace ale in the affections of 

 the Englishman, that is to say, beer, or malt 



1 Ct. R. bdle. 205, No. 46. 

 1 Ibid. bdle. 126, No. 1871. 

 ' Ibid. bdle. 205, No. 46. 



4 Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 145, 152. 



5 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1022, No. 2. 



6 Assize R. 912, m. 44. 



fa Hand. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 216. 



liquor prepared with hops. This variety of ale was 

 introduced from the Low Countries, being either 

 imported thence or brewed by Flemish or Dutch 

 settlers in England. A remarkably early instance 

 of its import occurs in the accounts of the bailiff 

 of Winchelsea for 1400, which contains the 

 entry, 'For eight barrels of beer 2 is. Sd.,' and a 

 note of the purchase by the mayor of 4 measures 

 of beer (lestas de beer) at 31*. the measure. 7 

 That beer was consumed at Rye though not 

 brewed in the town about 1456, is clear from 

 the regulations passed in that year, 



that every ale brewer of the town of Rye shall answer 

 gader and pay the maltode (i.e. tax) off" all such ale as 

 thei shall brewe and delyver to the hukkester to the 

 s d maltoters during the s d yere upon the payne and 

 lesynge of the s d brethyrne he that doth the con- 

 trarie. Also . . . the beer brewer which bryngyn 

 bere to the s d town of Rye shall pay for maltode off 

 every hole bune bere zJ? 



It is possible that some of the beer here 

 mentioned may have come from the neighbouring 

 village of Playden, in the church of which is a 

 sepulchral slab of about this date ornamented 

 with two beer barrels and a crossed mash 

 stick and fork, with the inscription ' Hier is be- 

 grave Cornells Zoetmanns bidt voer de ziele.' g 

 Another Flemish brewer, ' Dirik Berebrewer,' 

 occurs in a list of aliens resident in Sussex in 

 I465- 10 Beer-brewing was now attaining con- 

 siderable proportions in the county, as large 

 quantities of hops were brought into the Sussex 

 ports in I4&6, 11 and still more were imported, 

 principally to Rye and Winchelsea, about 1488, 

 when the prices varied from 6s. to 13;. \d. the 

 hundredweight. 12 At this latter date also a 

 number of instances occur of the export of beer 

 from Winchelsea, the value of a cask of ' byere ' 

 being 131. 4^., a pipe 6s. 8d. a pipe of ' syngle 

 bere ' sent out from Shoreham was priced at 6s. 

 and a barrel 2s.; by a regulation made at Rye in 

 1425, the brewer's barrel was to hold 26 gallons, 13 

 so that the value of beer at this time was ap- 

 parently id. the gallon. The price of ale was 

 regulated at Seaford about 1 500, when orders 

 were given to take notice 



yff there be any brewers that brewe to sale but they 

 brewe good ale and holsum for mannys body, and 

 they selle awter the kynges statewys that ys to saye a 

 galon under the seve for I \d., and wen it is stale for 

 \\d., and in the hoffe for ^d. galun. 14 



The terms here used are explained by Mr. Lower, 

 'under the sieve ' meaning as wort, 'stale,' after 

 fermentation, and ' huff,' at full strength. 



7 Cooper, Hist, of Winchelsea, 205. 



8 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 492,7. 



9 ' Here is buried Cornelius Zoetmann, pray for 

 the soul' ; Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 377. 



10 Lay Subs. 3$. 



11 Customs Accts. f|. " Ibid. $f-, % 5 -. 

 11 Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. v, 489^. 



14 Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 96. 



261 



