A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



hookes for conger,' a fish evidently more highly 

 esteemed in former times than at present, for in 

 J 455 * ne Ry e corporation paid 2 s - 4^- f r 

 1 2 congris and 2 turbuttes for to send to my 

 Master Lieftenant,' " and in 1598 the earl of 

 Nottingham wrote to the mayor of Rye to send 

 him ' twoe dorsers of your beste fishe and 

 especiallie of some good conger.' 18 The largest 

 boats, ranging from 18 to 40 tons, were 

 employed in the cod fishery of the ' Scarborough 

 fare,' and from 15 to 40 tons in the herring 

 fishery of the ' Yarmouth fare,' which lasted from 

 September to November ; at the other end of the 

 scale were the cock boats, from 2 to 6 tons, with 

 or without a mast, employed in the ' Cok fare ' 

 from October to December, while the local 

 herring fishery was carried on by ' flewers ' of 

 from 8 to 20 tons using ' flue ' nets from Novem- 

 ber to the end of December. 



How early the Sussex fisheries assumed a more 

 than local importance it would be difficult to 

 say, but Winchelsea was supplying the king's 

 table with fish at the beginning of the thirteenth 

 century ; in 1237 2,OOO whiting and other fish 

 were sent thence, 1,000 plaice to Winchester in 

 1248, and more of the same fish to Westminster 

 in 1251, in October of which year were sent to 

 Westminster for the feast of St. Edward's Day 

 4,000 whiting, 3,000 plaice, 6,OOO fresh 

 herrings, large congers, &c. For Easter 1252 

 Winchelsea supplied 2,000 plaice, 4,000 whiting, 

 24 dories, 100 soles, and 40 congers. 17 Of the 

 various fish here mentioned two kinds bore an 

 especially high reputation, and in the fourteenth 

 century Winchelsea plaice and Rye whiting had 

 attained a fame which entitled them to be 

 classed with the Yarmouth herrings. 18 This 

 reputation had the disadvantage of occasionally 

 attracting undesirable attention, and in 1340 

 Richard le Rouse was imprisoned for stealing 

 from Geoffrey called Jeppe of Hastings a horse- 

 load of plaice and whiting worth 5*. 19 As the 

 theft took place at Pashley in Ticehurst it is 

 probable that ' Jeppe ' was a ' ripier ' carrying 

 fish to London. The first mention of these fish 

 carriers by the name of ' ripier ' appears to be in 

 the poll-tax list of 1380, where one is entered 

 under Findon and another under Wiston. 20 

 The trade flourished during the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries, mentions of ripiers being 

 of common occurrence, especially in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Rye ; and when the Tunbridge 

 Wells and London road was converted into a 

 turnpike by Act of 1709 it was specially laid 

 down that 



Neither this Act nor anything herein contained 

 shall extend or be construed to extend to the rcceiv- 



16 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 491/5. 



16 Ibid, xiii App. pt. iv, 1 1 6. 



17 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiii, 27. 

 19 Eng. Hist. Rev. xvi, 501. 



19 Gaol Delivery R. 1 29. " Lay Subs. 



ing or taking any toll or any sum or sums of money 

 for any horses laden with fish, or for the horses on 

 which the rippiers or drivers of such said horses shall 

 ride going on or towards London, or for such said 

 hones returning, but that such said horses shall at all 

 times pass toll-free." 



Besides the ripier, or carrier, there was the 

 ' oast,' or middleman, practically equivalent to 

 the modern fishmonger, as he bought from the 

 fisherman to supply private individuals or the 

 trade. Sometimes the ' oast ' seems to have been 

 the owner, or at least employer, of particular 

 fishing boats. By an agreement of 1477 

 between Rye, Hastings, and Winchelsea it was 

 enacted that if any stranger were in debt to a 

 combaron of those towns for fish bought, no new 

 ' cost ' should ' make fissile ' for him until the 

 debt be paid. 23 One of these 'oasts' was the 

 royal purveyor, and it was enacted in 1479 that 

 he should not ' make fisshe ' for any person other 

 than the king. 23 The royal purveyor was 

 naturally supposed to have the pick of the 

 market, but in 1594 complaint was made that 

 the queen was badly supplied with fish and at 

 high prices, as the fishermen bargained secretly 

 with private buyers and did not bring their fish 

 into the market ; to remedy this all boats were 

 ordered to bring their catches to market within 

 an hour of their arrival, while no one was to buy 

 until the queen's purveyor had obtained what he 

 required. 24 But in 1604 it was again reported 

 that the fishermen of Rye were selling secretly to 

 agents of the Fishmongers of London, ' whereby 

 His Majesty's oaste is inforced many times to 

 send to the court unserviceable fish.' Accordingly 

 the Fishmongers agreed to appoint certain honest 

 men to be ' oastes ' to buy fish for them after 

 the king's requirements had been satisfied. 26 In 

 1608 William Angell, the king's purveyor, 

 suggested to the authorities at Rye that the 

 fishermen should be placed nearer the fishmarket 

 and the ' ostes ' farther off ; this was agreed to, 

 but with certain reservations : 



In regarde that in the winter season every 

 particular fyssherman hath his shoppe unto hymselfe, 

 and in the somer tyme when they goe with tramells 

 the whole company of one boat use but one shoppe ; 

 for then we thinke it most fin that they should change 

 shoppes with the hostes between this (August) and 

 All Saints' about which tyme the boats come from 

 Vermouth.*" 



To obtain anything like definite statistics of 

 the numbers of ships and men engaged in the 

 fisheries or of the value of their trade in early 

 days would seem to be hopeless. It has already 

 been noticed that in 1266 Winchelsea contri- 

 buted some fourteen ships to the Yarmouth 



11 Suss. Arch. Coll. xv, 145. 



" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 489*. " Ibid. 



" Ibid, xiii, App. pt. iv, 109. 



"Ibid. 130. M Ibid. 140. 



266 



