Ingatestone Hall (Essex)

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Sir William Petre, Ingatestone Hall, Ingatestone, Essex.

Sir William Petre was born in 1506 and at the age of thirty-three he was granted on 15th December, 1539, by letters patent "The Manor of Ingatestone, Mountnessing and Fryerning belonging to the Abbey". This was as a result of King Henry VIII dissolving all religious houses that had an income of less than £200 in 1536. Sir Petre immediately demolished the old Abbey and built the existing Ingatestone Hall. A Brewhouse and buttery were built on the South side of the base courtyard, to the right of the entrance gateway. The gateway has a one armed clock and below this was the brewers chamber, into which the clock weights descended. The brewer worked on a part-time basis. The Petre family records held at the Essex record Office in Chelmsford indicate that by 1552 brewing was quite a large concern. There were brewings every two weeks, other than at harvest or festival times when a weekly brew was necessary. The two weekly brews produced on average 32 Kilderkins and the Buttery was capable of holding 40 Kilderkins (720 gallons). In 1552 there were a total of 32 brewings producing 18,432 gallons. With the estimated additional harvest and festival brews, the total production was in the region of 20,000 gallons for the year. The cost of this brewing was about £75. For the Christmas of 1547/8, ten kilderkins of "household beer" or "single beer", which was a low gravity beer equivalent to the old Monks single "X" beer, and half a hogshead of "March beer", a stronger brew, were left over after the festivities! In August of 1547, three quarters of malt were sent to East Hornden Farm for brewing by a Mr Cornelis; a month later he delivered back to the Hall eight hogsheads of what was apparently a stronger hopped beer. It is recorded that there were two hop kilns "near by" in the records of 1552. It also notes that four hogsheads were sent to Aldesgate House, and that the Ingatestone Hall supples of beer were short, may be due to the illness of the brewer, thereby necessitating purchase of 14 kilderkilns from a Thomas Ramme, a local brewer, at a cost of 19s 10d for small beer. Ten years later, it was noted that Harrison's wife, of Radwinter, brewed 200 gallons for 20 shillings as against the Ingatestone brewers charge of 20s for 252 gallons.

In the inventory taken in 1600, the "Beer Cellar" had "8 beer stalls, 2 half tubs to stand under the taps, a tilter a shelf for the jacks; beer stools, 2 oyster tables and a pail with an iron baler". There was also a lock and key to the courtyard door. The "brewhouse" had a "great" copper, mashing vat, the "yealdinge" vat (for fermentintg the wort) and hop baskets. A Sweet wort tun, the cooler, the "chunke" into which the wort ran, the cowles-yeast tubs, jets, skeps, troughs, the "rowers" to stir the grain, the pulley used for raising casks, a "stuke" hooped with four iron hoops, a "shavell" - a small spade, probably wooden, - to take up the "graynes", a leaden trough, two roundlets (wooden casks) for yeast storage, and a "tunnel" to fill the casks. Two cask sizes were used, the kilderkiln of 18 gallons capacity and the hogshead, of 54 gallons. The typical quantity of malt used in the year was 11 quarters and 2 bushels.

In 1800 the "West Rouge" of buildings, including the brewhouse, were pulled down; brewing which had been taking place at Ingatestone Hall for the Petre family for 260 years had finally come to an end. Anna Maria Barbara, wife of the 8th Lord Petre, wrote instructions in 1740 for the Estate brew house management:- "if there bee forty in family the expence of this office may probably bee computed att about a hundred pound a yeare the price of malt is for the most part about halfe a crowne a Bushell wch in some parts of England is called a Strike and holds eight gallons and a halfe and wch I take notice of to aviod mistakes because that mesure which they call a Bushell in some parts of the North holds twice as much. the common allowance of malt is 12 Bushells to a hogshead of march Beer 8 Bushells to a hoggshead of Ale and 2 Bushells to a hoggshead of Small Beer and tis probable that one week with an other you will consume about three hogsheads of Small Beer one hoggshead of march Beer so that the weekly consumption of malt will be Six Bushells for the three hoggsheads of Small beer, eight bushells for the hoggshead of Ale and three bushells for the fourth part of the hoggshead of march beer in all seaventeen Bushells of malt a week wch(reckoning the malt att halfe a crowne the Bushell) comes to---- £. s. d. 2 2 6 But because it is the custome in many places to take a hoggshead or two of small beer from the same quantity of malt that makes each hoggshead of ale or march beer, if this bee practizd it will Lessen the expense of that Article for small beer wch with other good managments may bring the whole yearly charge of malt Drink within the compas of one hundred pound tis both the best husbandry and the surest way to have always good malt Drink to Brew as seldome as possible Sr Robert Howard who was a great manager and nicely curious in his malt drink never brewd but twice a year in October and in march and tho it bee an uncomon thing to keep small beer so long his was extremly pleasant very clear and not stale wch was preserved from being so by putting about 2 pound of hopps into each hoggshead of small beer. it is not only a very creditable thing to have alwayes good small beer but it likewise saves a great deal for drink that is fresh and clear goes twice as farr as when it is new and flatt besides when this happens servants will thro away a great deal to hasten the broaching of a better hogshead if the water bee good it will require the Less quantity of malt to make the brew strong and that wch brews well commonly washes well too spring water very seldome happens to bee good for ether purpose but where no other can be had it may be very much mended by keeping it five or six dayes in the Brewhouse before they make use of it and the water bee never so good in its kind, the keeping of it in the hous for some time before they use it is an advantage to it an other good husbandry is to have the copper that Boyles the water of the Largest size: for the same fire make the water boyle if it were twice as much by wch meanes twice as much beer is made with the same expence of fire, any sort of coal being cheaper and much more convenient for that purpose than wood: besides there is a way of hanging the copper, and placing a little iron dore att the mouth of the furnace to shutt in the heat ( wch cannot bee where they brew with wood fires) wch contrivance makes a very small quantity of coales serve the turn and without wch double the quantity would bee consum'd. if there could bee any communication by troughs or leaden pipes betwixt the Brewhouse the Sellar it would save a great deal of Labour in the tunning besides a great deal of drink that spilt and wasted by having the Sellar and brewhouse open to all commers on those dayes whereas if it were conveyed by pipes, one man in each place would tun all the drink without wast or trouble any sort of Liquor is esteemd more wholesome out of the vessel than out of the bottle and because the old fashioned hoggshead will not preserve the drink fresh to the Last, some curious observer invented a sort of vessel that stands upon the narrow end, shapd almost like a sugar loafe as in the margin being broad att the top the scum (wh keeps in the Spirit of the Liquor) does not break as in the old fashioned vessels, but rather groes thicker the nearer it comes to the bottome by wch manner the Drink continues fresh to the Last wch makes these sort of vessels very convenient especially for small brew for the use of your owne table it is esteemd an advantage to the malt to lett it bee grownd four or five dayes before it is make use of and there are many new inventd sort of malt mills, but for such a family as yours none will bee so proper as the old fashiond one drawne by a horse".

This delightful description certainly throws more light on the practise of estate brewing in the 18th Century, not least for highlighting both Ale and Beer and the use of hops, which in this case indicated that they were locally grown. Ingatestone Hall has many underground springs and culverts which disperse the water, all indicated on a map, so it is apparent that a water supply was adequate for brewing such quantities. It should be remembered that because of the untreated water supplies, large quantities of small weak beer were consumed instead of water. The reference to the use of "leaden pipes" to prevent spilt, and wasted beer, and that one man could "tun" all the beer "without wast or trouble", seems to refer to the habit of Estate workers calling into the brew house at each brew for a free "noggin or two.

From ESSEX BREWERS - The Malting and Hop Industries of the County by Ian P Peaty 1992 now out of print ISBN 978 1 873966 02 4