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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