Mediaeval Inns and Ale

by Jean Sheehan

There are records of residents of the manor of Redgrave brewing and selling ale since the late thirteenth century. Manor court rolls show the fines that people were paying to the lord of the manor. It is now thought by medievalists that the fines were in fact licences. The Abbots of Bury, lords of the manor of Redgrave, had the assize of bread and ale and received the income from the fines. Two men were elected to be ale tasters, they had to check the strength of the ale and ensure that the correct measures were used. The ale tasters could be fined themselves if they failed to perform their duties. William le Haye and Robert Symon were aletasters at the beginning of the fourteenth century and they stated that John of Littleberry brewed against the assize. Hugo Traype was pardoned his fine for brewing because of his poverty.

The brewing of ale was a cottage industry and at this time was performed by the lower classes. It is known from the extent of 1289 that eighteen of the stall holders in Botesdale Market were selling ale, four of them also baked bread for sale. As the market was only allowed on Thursdays they must have had other outlets for sales of ale, alternatively they may have only made enough for this one day. Richard Smith states that the average number of people brewing contrary to the assize in the manor court rolls was between 60 and 70 annually who were fined at least once. Spinsters often brewed ale in a small way and did not rent stalls or shops. The brewers who rented their own land grew their own barley, whilst others had to buy the barley first. Adam Pistor was one of the former, and he was also a baker. (Pistor means baker in Latin) He had a shop and also three stalls in the market. Geoffrey le Contesse held five stalls in the market and his wife paid 40 brewing fines between 1282 and 1293.
The manor of Rickinghall paid less fines for brewing than the manor of Redgrave. Ale was consumed in alehouses which were different to inns as they did not provide accommodation.

Nicholas Bacon was making a profit from drinking in a different way in the sixteenth century. He purchased The White Hart Inn from William Garsington in 1567. The listed building survey dates this property to the early fifteenth century. He then leased it with sixty six acres of land for 19 years at a rent of £13.6.8d per annum. The White Hart was then leased by Nicholas Bacon, his son, to Robert Morrys in 1596. The White Hart is the property now known as Street Farmhouse on the corner of Mill Lane and The Street in Botesdale. The rent was increased by Edmund Bacon in 1624 to £51.15.6d., but it may have included more land, and the rent was still the same when Thomas Howlett held it in 1646/7. The rent had actually been decreased by 1652/53. I wonder if this is due to the commonwealth period and all forms of pleasure seem to have been restricted. It may have even been closed as an inn by this time as in the rental of 1562 it is listed as The White Hart in with the farm rents. By the early eighteenth century it is known as White Hart Farm, later changed to Street Farm.

Sir Nicholas also bought and leased for twenty pounds per annum The White Horse Inn, Botesdale and then sold it for a profit. There is a charter in with the deeds in the University of Chicago for the sale of this property around 1530. I have not been able to find where the White Horse in Botesdale was, but I am sure it was not a mistake for Rickinghall as it is mentioned several times as Botesdale. He also leased The Crown Inn Botesdale for fifteen pounds per annum and his son Nicholas sold it in 1581. The Crown Inn was situated on Crown Hill.

Many public houses in the three villages have come and gone over the centuries but that is a separate article in itself. The Cross Keys has now adapted to modern living with the sale of stamps and top up cards for mobile phones, and should be providing meals again by the time this article is published after the refurbishment of the kitchen due to fire damage.