Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/294

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A HISTORY OF RUTLAND in mediaeval times. The fines inflicted on certain hraciatrhes in the hundred of HartnoU in 1262 drew forth a protest against the method of levying the same ; those who made good beer, it would seem, being as hardly dealt with as those who made an inferior sort." In 1577 the justices of the peace, in making a return of the number of alehouses in the county, commented on the fact that the establishments in question were 'for the most part very poor.'^* In 1841 there was 'a little trade in malt' at Langham and Whissendine ;^' in 1846 there were several maltsters in Uppingham,'* and at Oakham 'a patent steam brewery with a new process ' had lately been started by Mr. James Crewson." The Rutland Brewery at Oakham still worthily represents this industry. Traces of ancient iron workings are frequent throughout the county,'" masses of slag having been found on the surfaces of newly-cleared fields. Peter le Irinmanger was a craftsman of Upping- ham at least as early as 1285,-' whilst at Emping- ham^and elsewhere we hear of smiths. The industry died away to a great extent with the destruction of the forests, and the consequent lack of charcoal, although a phase of revival seems to have set in about the beginning of the 19th century.-' The. ore, which is chiefly worked in quarries or open works at Cottesmore, is yielded by the ferruginous formation of the North- ampton Sand, the thickness of the ore at its greatest being about 9 ft., whilst it is overlaid by sand and clay belonging to the drift to a depth of from 3 ft. to 7 ft. at Cottesmore." In 1895 no less than 70,762 tons of iron ore were raised in the county; in 1 900 the output was 44,118 tons.^' Talc was found at Lyndon in the stiflF blue clay of the district in 1780.°^ The discovery of chalk at Ridlington, whilst digging for road- metal in 1 79 1, is recorded as *a great surprise ' to the people of Rutland.^' The chalk is described as having ' rows of flints therein, as in the south of England,' and as being * not soft.' ^' The Upper Lias Clays are dug for brickmaking at various places in the county — Seaton, Oakham, Uppingham, and elsewhere.^' " Assize R. 47 Hen. Ill, 721, m. i 2 d. " Cal. S.P. Dcm. 1547-80, p. 570. " Plgot, Dir. 54. " White, Rut. 634. " Ibid. 648.

  • " At Pickworth, Clipsham, and Market Overton.

The Quarry, 1902, p. 356. " A?size R. 722, 14 EJw. I, m. 7. "Ibid. m. II. " Judd, Geol. Rut. 55. " Kendall, Iron Ores, 239. '^ Min. Rep, and Statu. At the present time the output of Rutland iron-stone is merged in the returns with that from Oxfordshire. " Camden, Brit. (ed. Gough), ii, 223. " Philos. Trans. Ixxxviii, 74. '^ Ibid. " The Quarry, 1901, p. 432. When Daniel Finch, the second Earl of Not- tingham, towards the close of the 17th century, was building his mansion of Burley-on-the-Hill, a great quantity of bricks were made from clay dug in and near Burley Park by brickmakers from Middlesex and Nottingham. By a deed of 25 October 1697 Stephen Crofts and John Dods, both of the parish of St. Mary, Notting- ham, covenanted 'to digg forthwith a sufl'icient quantity of earth or clay of the best sort and the most proper that can be found near the kilns in Burley Park, the said earth not be spitted above 4 in. thick and to turn the same between Christ- mas and Candlcmass next ensueing, and in all respects to prepare the sand in the best manner for making good and sound bricks.' In other contracts these brickmakers agreed to find all moulds, utensils, sand and other requisites, while Lord Nottingham should make ' iiovells for the bricks ' and provide the straw required, as also ' such pitt coals, seacoals and furzes as should be necessary for the making and bavins to kindle the fire.' The rate to be paid the brickmakers was 55. 6d. the thousand.'" At Morcott, Edith Weston, and Exton, the White Sands of the Lower Estuarine Beds are dug for making mortar. Excellent lime has been yielded by the Upper Estuarine series of the Great Oolite.'^ From one of the earth- products of the county a former industry, ' and that a poor one,' took its rise. The trade in question was that of the ' Rutlandshire Raddle- men,' itinerant vendors of ruddle, or ochre, which they carried in packs or parcels on their backs and sold to the farmers for sheep-marking." Light is thrown, according to one authority, on what would appear to have been a leading industry of the county, by the trade tokens which were in circulation in the 17th century. 'From the series thus issued in Rutland,' says the writer, ' it might be imagined that the men of the greatest prosperity in the county of Rutland were the tallow-chandlers,' no less than five out of seven- teen bearing the device of a candle or the arms of the Tallow-Chandlers' Company, as in the case of John Holmes, of Langham, in 1658. Thomas Goodman of North Luffenham issued a token of the s.ame date bearing the figure of a man making candles, a similar device appearing on the token of Jonathan Fisher of Oakham,'^ whilst Samuel Reeve adopted a stick of candles. Other miscellaneous industries of Rutland form but a meagre list. Rugs, parchment, and glue seem to have been staple trades of Barrow- den at one time." In 1846 Richard Gill was a fellmonger, woolstapler, and Spanish leather maker "> Miss Pearl Finch, Hist, of Burley-on-the-Hill, i, 42. " The Quarry, 1901, p. 487. " Ibid. '^ Fuller, Worthies, ii, 242. " Williamson, Trade Tokens, ii, 941. " Ibid. 944, 945. Pigot, Dir. 1822. 234