Sarah
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Taunton Courier. Bristol and Exeter Journal, and Western Advertiser. Wednesday 07 Jun 1905
Page 3 Column 5
TAUNTON & ITS TOWNSMEN.
INTERESTING RECORDS OF THE PAST.
SPECIALLY CONTRIBUTED.
DECADE 1784-1793.
The following is the first of a series of articles on “Taunton and its Townsmen,” which are being specially written for our columns by Mr. G. H. BROCKLEHURST, a well-known archaeologist residing in London, and who is well versed in the past history of Taunton. We feel sure that this information, dealing as it does with an interesting period in the history of the ancient borough, will be welcome to our readers, and especially to those of them who by their queries and replies have for some years past displayed a keen and practical interest in our “Notes and Queries” columns. The particulars now given may be accepted as quite reliable, the author having given considerable research to the subject, and inasmuch as this is the first time that such information has been published, at any rate in newspaper form, we have every confidence in believing that it will prove to be an additional attractive feature in our widely-circulated papers.
“Where should I be born else but in Taunton Dean?”
Taunton is an excellent illustration of the fact that, before the days of steam, the commercial importance of a town was indicated by its inn and tavern accommodation. The former, of its intercourse, trade, or business with other towns, for there the merchants stayed when they came to transact business; the latter, of the number of hands engaged in its home industries. Taverns were houses kept for those who were not house-keepers; being what would now be called restaurants, with a club connection carried on in the evenings. They were a necessity; for most wives worked at the mills or spinning at home, for equally long hours as their husbands; whilst even children of tender age spent many hours assisting to increase the family earnings. Hence it was that only “Pot Walloners [sic],” or those who cooked their own food, had a vote in returning members of Parliament for the borough. This custom led to strange sights a little before each election. To qualify themselves for voting many made fires, upon which they cooked their food, in the streets – rounds of beef, rabbits, birds of every kind, from a goose to a lark, turned on spits – and fastening up their bedroom doors, entered these chambers by the windows, using ladders where necessary.
In the evening the doctors and the lawyers, the alderman and the wealthy tradesmen, the small proprietor and the farmer, met at their respective taverns to take the friendly glass – or rather bottle; for these were days of one, two, three, and many bottle men – and talk over the news of the day.
The gentry to the King's Head,
The nobles to the Crown,
The knights unto the Golden Fleece,
And to the Plough the clown;
The cleric to the Mitre,
The shepherds to their Stars,
The gardener hies[?] him to the Rose,
To the Drum the man of Mars,
which gave rise to such sayings as, “Birds of a feather flock together;” “A man is known by his company.”
Most of the inns had been the large private residences of the wealthy men, when few towns in England, were so important as Taunton – when “open house” was the rule, not an exceptional day. Their long fronts, overhanging tiled roofs, and square courtyards gave proof of the candid, large-hearted, and open-handed hospitality which would sweeten every hour the traveller would pass therein. There he could be a monarch, having subjects willing to obey his every wish, “an armchair for his throne, a poker his sceptre,” a parlour sweetened with burning logs, and “a place of slumber and of dreams” redolent with lavender – so called, it will be remembered, from being the flower laid between newly-washed linen – as his empire.
To avoid invidious distinctions, the following inns or coaching hostelries, which were in their prime, and taverns are arranged, as other lists will be, in alphabetical order. As these houses of entertainment were never confused in Century XVIII., they are classed under their respective heads.
Amongst the inns were:-
THE BELL, on the west side of High-street, in the hands of Joseph WEBBER, who retired to Barrack-street, where he died at the beginning of November, 1828, at the age of seventy-one; surviving his daughter, who carried on the business for some time, about fourteen months. It then passed into the hands of Henry SUTTON, who lost his wife, Elizabeth, within a few days of the death of Joseph WEBBER. This was an old inn, which in 1652 was in the hands of Anthony REYNOLDS. Here was the Excise Office, of which James HAWKESLEY – who died at Crewkerne, at an advanced age, on 31st May, 1790 – had been collector for many years, and was succeeded by Thomas JONES in or about 1787; William COX the supervisor; and Messrs. BROWN, BUNK, DYER, GILL, and PAYNE the officers.
THE BLACK HORSE, in Norton, or the North Town – which some thirty years later became a tavern – was kept by Ann DUSSON, who was succeeded by John BESLEY. On the death of William TURLE, sen., on 23rd January, 1824, he became landlord of the Duke of Wellington: an old house with a new sign, which evidently belonged to one of the charities, for he only paid a yearly rent of thirteen shillings and fourpence.
THE CASTLE, which was certainly the chief inn at this period, was a corner house on the west side of North-street. At the back of it was part of the external moat of the Castle. It was another of the old inns, having John SATCHELL -whose son, William, was executed in the town for joining Monmouth's Rebellion – as host in 1655, and contained some old ornamental china and valuable paintings. Its landlord, William SWEET, “a typical host,” died, after a long and painful illness, at the comparatively early age of fifty-six, in April, 1803, leaving the business to his wife, Mary, who carried it on for about a quarter of a century, passing through much sorrow by the deaths of her sons – William, at the age of twenty-one, in 1807, and Thomas, the following year, aged twenty. She had the carrying out of one of the best-attended public dinners held in the town, called together by the following announcement in the Taunton Courier of 5th October, 1809:- “The Public are informed by the desire of many gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood of Taunton, that there will be a Dinner at the Castle Inn on Wednesday, 25th instant, being the day on which His Majesty enters on the fiftieth year of his reign.”
THE CROWN AND MITRE, in Jarman's Court, Fore-street, kept by one PAINTER, who was succeeded by William BATT. This house became a tavern, “where all Gentlemen and Ladies and Others may depend on meeting with the most genteel accommodation and civil usage.”
THE FOX AND GOOSE, kept by John OWEN. This sign came into use in the fourteenth century, and was a satire on the Church, which was represented by the fox carrying off the goose or land of the laity. It was against this attempt to make the Church of England “a kingdom of this world” that the Statute of Mortmain was passed in 1225.
THE GEORGE, near the top of the east side of High-street, was the largest inn, having “light and lofty rooms, many of them spacious, and a large square yard, having a gallery, supported by ornamental carved columns. Lewis COGAN, jun., was the landlord, and after some years of occupation, passed the business over to William WOOD, retiring to Hill House, Kingston, where his wife, Mary, died at the age of sixty on 22nd November, 1830. This was an old inn, which had changed its sign, for when John BARTON had it, in 1666, it was called the Rose and Crown.
THE KING'S ARMS, which, on the death of Henry MOGGRIDGE, was carried on by his widow; who, having transferred it to P. HUTCHINGS in the second decade of the new century, died on 10th May, 1827.
THE LONDON INN, on the south side of East-street, was second only to the Castle, both having a large posting connection. It was in the hands of Edward JONES for some years, and, after his successor had had it, William WILLIE was in possession in 1820.
THE NAG'S HEAD was on the east side of North-street, next door to the Bristol.
THE NEW INN was owned by Daniel SUTTON, whose widow lived to the age of eighty-five, passing away on 24th April, 1826.
THE OLD ANGEL, on the west side of the western portion of Fore-street, was in the hands of James DAVIS, who passed it on to Ann MORSE. This was one of the oldest inns in the town, known, until Puritan days, as “The Salutation,” having as its sign the Angel saluting the Virgin. Most probably the change was made by Henry YOUNG, who was in possession in the middle of Century XVII. In its yard, which was divided from the School House by part of the inner moat of the Castle, many a company of strolling players had given a dramatic performance.
(To be continued.)