SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: An ancient document suggests that a Dutch businessman was doing very well in Croydon more than 500 years ago, writes DAVID MORGAN
Magician of the mash: in medieval England, brewing ale or beer was often the work of monks
Dusting off a 520-year-old last will and testament has helped reveal aspects of life in Croydon at the turn of the 16th century.
The will was written by Bronn van Riswyks, who died during the reign of King Henry VII in October 1502.
With a surname like that, we can assume he was from Dutch heritage. “Van” means “coming from” and Rijswijk is a town in South Holland. We do not know how long Bronn van Riswyks lived in Croydon, but his will provides two important clues about his background and life.
First, he wrote that he wished to be buried “by the north door of St John the Baptist church, next to where his wife Anne had already been buried”. He must have been very wealthy indeed to consider such a request: the north door was the main entrance to Croydon’s parish church at that time. A grave there would have cost more than just a general burial. And if his wife Anne had already been buried there, he must have paid for and reserved a double grave.
Second, his occupation was described in his will as “a beer brewer”.
The fact that the word “beer” was written separately placed van Riswyks into a particular group of people.
If he were described as just being a “brewer”, that will have meant he brewed ale, the staple British drink of the time. The use of the word beer in van Riswyks’s will suggests that he was one of the new group of immigrant Dutch and Belgian brewers who had moved over from the continent to set up breweries in this country.
Hop to it: use of this new ingredient transformed the way beers were brewed
These magicians of the mash brought a radical change to the way that beer was brewed. They used hops.
Before their arrival, British brewers would produce ale using hot water and oats, with some wheat thrown in from time-to-time. Wild yeast achieved the fermentation and the brew was flavoured with herbs.
There were thousands of local brewers producing this sort of ale up and down the land, but the ale didn’t last and it never travelled well, so its sale was predominantly limited to the area in which it was produced. This may go some way to explaining the deeply held affection and loyalty that continues to exist today for local breweries.
Even the 14th-Century medieval mystic Margerie Kemp, who lived in King’s Lynn in Norfolk, tried her hand at brewing.
She started up a fairly large brewery but it failed because the barm or yeast fell. It would be described today as a stuck fermentation.
The arrival of the new continental brewers created a good deal of anger and resentment among the English. There were complaints that Dutch beer could make you fat and “doth inflate the belly” – it was gassy. It was also rumoured that this new beer was poisonous and that folk should stick with the old trusted ale.
However, many were soon won over because of the new taste. The addition of hops gave the beer a bitter edge which was to prove a real winner. It also meant that the beer lasted for months, and so it proved a commercial success. Within a few years, Kent became the centre of hop-growing, supplying the breweries so that those early Dutch brewers no longer had to import their essential ingredient.
One of the biggest influencers in achieving acceptance of this new beer was the military. Beer was a stable commodity, whereas ale was transitory. Beer could be held on a ship or in a quartermaster’s supplies store. Ale had to be in constant production and if there was a hiccup in that, then it could lead to rationing, and no one wanted ale rationing.
Mystic Marg: Kemp’s brewery in King’s Lynn failed because of problems with yeast. She never saw that coming…
For these reasons, beer replaced ale as the drink quaffed by the military.
The continental brewers initially set up businesses in ports, where there were already a number of European immigrants. Thanks to tax records from 1480, we can see that there were 24 beer brewers in the south of England who were “aliens” and who were assessed separately for their tax.
Of these, eight were in London, five in Ipswich and three in Norwich. Initially, in London, the European brewers were located south of the Thames, in Southwark, near to the site of Borough Market today. This allowed them to avoid the strict regulations of the Worshipful Company of Brewers, based across the river in the City of London.
Beer badge: brewers had their company logos even 500 years ago
It is possible that van Riswyks could have been one of the Southwark brewers, but who moved further south, to Croydon, to make use of the waters of the Wandle. A good water source was vital for good quality beer.
Medieval records show that copious amounts of water were needed in brewing. We know that in 1286, the canons of St Paul’s Cathedral brewed 100 times, each batch yielding 678 gallons. Much more water was needed in the production, of course, as the grain absorbed a good deal of it during the mash. It was estimated that 1,000 gallons would be needed for each batch.
If this was the case then St Paul’s, alone, would have used more than 100,000 gallons of fresh water in that year. St Paul’s took its water from a conduit, which cost them an annual fee of 53 shillings and 4 pence – a little less than £3 then, and worth about £3,000 in today’s money. Seems that in the 13th Century, as now, water was a profitable business.
Demand from the brewers for water increased, so that by 1345, the City of London declared that no more could be drawn from the conduits. This forced the brewers to use water from the Thames instead. It eased the demands on the City’s drinking water but greatly increased the sediment in the ale.
Late request: van Riswyks’ will includes a plea for ‘an honest priest’
Croydon has a long history of brewing, but the discovery of van Riswyks’ will provided a named brewer much earlier than any previous reference to brewing being established here. John King was a Croydon brewer in Elizabethan England, in 1586.
He was sold some land by William Chapman, a baker, and it was recorded by the Homage Jury. In 1616, King left “one great freehold messuage called Brewehouse, Croydon” to his son Anthony.
Apart from his will, all other trace of van Riswyks has been been lost. We don’t know for certain where his brewery was. His grave, together with that of his wife, wasn’t included in any of the histories written about the Parish Church and its graveyard. His burial pre-dated the beginning of the church registers.
His will revealed a view, very common at that time, that he needed to instruct various people to pray for his soul as it passed through purgatory and eventually to heaven. He requested that “an honest priest” was to do this. He left bequests to his daughter-in-law, Agnes, and two godchildren.
The poor of Croydon were remembered with money being left to provide them with bread during the year.
I don’t suppose for a moment van Riswyks gave a thought to the brewing revolution that he and his fellow compatriots started. “Refreshing the parts that other beers couldn’t reach” was a slogan which was devised to market one brand of Dutch beer nearly 500 years after van Riswyks’ death.
Cheers to the man brave enough to come to a new country and who overcame prejudice and ignorance before the new tastes and flavours were accepted.
- David Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Other recent articles by David Morgan:
- Hymns and arias: Whitgift’s key role in Bible’s Welsh translation
- Lockjaw, honours and pantomimes: Happy New Year from 1924
- Croydon lad who did a Runner for the Blind Beak of Bow Street
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
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Thanks. Once again a very interesting glimpse into ancient Croydon.