Salter's of Rickmansworth

Salter’s of Rickmansworth Allan Whitaker The history of Salter's brewery in Hertfordshire or Greater London, nor Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, has not could the Allied Brewery archives in been recorded in great detail. This paper Burton on Trent give any information. traces its history from 1741, when it origi- nally started as a brewhouse attached to The entry for the Cannon Brewery Co the Coach and Horses in Rickmansworth, Limited in The Brewery Manual (1953- to 1924, when the brewery and 78 54) states, in the section for remarks, ‘in licensed properties were sold to the 1924 the freehold brewery and over 70 Cannon Brewery of Clerkenwell, London. freehold houses from Messers Salters of Details of where the brewery was estab- Rickmansworth’.4 In Century of British lished and how the tied estate was Brewers Plus the entry for Salter & Co acquired and retained by the various Limited, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire brewery owners during its 183 year histo- states ‘Acquired by the Cannon Brewery ry will be discussed. Co Limited of London in 1924 with 76 tied houses and was closed’.5 It has proved difficult to trace numerous details of the history of Salter's brewery Cornell has given details of the Salter and the composition of the tied estate family history starting with Samuel Salter and changes that occurred between I (1697-1750), his son Stephen Salter 1741 when Samuel Salter I started brew- (1726-1800) and grandson Samuel ing in a small brewhouse attached to the Salter II (1753-1829), showing how mem- Coach and Horses in Rickmansworth bers of the Salter family were related High Street and 1924 when the brewery through marriage to the Capell/Capel was sold to the Cannon Brewery in family of Watford, the Thurgood and Ind Clerkenwell, London. brewing families of Baldock, the Clutterbuck brewing family of Stanmore Neither the brewery, its owners or and also the Wodehouse, Fullerton, Rickmansworth are mentioned by Granville and Davenport families.6 Mathias,1 Richmond and Turton2 or Gervish & Wilson.3 No details of the sale In 1727, in the Rickmansworth Overseers prospectus in 1924 could be found in Rate Accounts, it was recorded that the Record Offices in Buckinghamshire, Samuel Salter should pay one shilling for Brewery History Number 143 21 the rated period.7 That rate would be an 1763 he also insured a two storey brick appropriate charge for a cottage. When building he owned the Coach and Horses in 1741, the rate demanded had increased to four being a malthouse and kiln on the west side shillings indicating a change in occupa- of High Street at Rickmansworth in the parish tion. Samuel died on 10 May 1750 and of Rickmansworth being almost opposite his his son Stephen took over the business, D[welling]H[ouse] and in his possession. which had evidently become more pros- (policy 82384). perous as the rate demanded in 1751 was eight shillings. Because of the known position of the malthouse and the brewery on the large Samuel Salter II went into a partnership scale Ordnance Survey map of 1871 it with Job Woodman when the business can now be established that World's End became known as Salter & Woodman was the original site of Salter's brewery (1819-1825). Later it was known as on the east side of the High Street in Salter, Woodman & Fellowes (1829), 1760 and the brewery developed and Woodman & Fellowes (1830-1839) and remained on this site until 1924. Capell & Fellowes (1842-1874).8 The business was incorporated in 1890 as a It is possible to identify some of the limited company and was known as Salter's tied estate from a study of tithe Salter & Co Limited until the takeover in maps (c1840) and Petty Sessions licence 1924. records (1870-1924) that are kept in the relevant county archives, but unfortu- During the 1720s Samuel Salter I built a nately not all of these records still exist. malthouse just inside the boundaries of More details can be found in two books Rickmansworth Park where the local on Hertfordshire inns and public houses, Roman Catholic church is now located.9 Branch Johnson’s Hertfordshire Inns and Sections of this malthouse now form part Jolliffe and Jones’s Hertford-shire Inns the fabric of the church hall. and Public Houses.11 & 12 A few more are found in journals and books on local In 1759 Stephen Salter insured World's history. In this way it is possible to identi- End ‘being a house on the E[ast] side of fy a few pre 1800, more c1840 and still the road at Rickmansworth in the parish more after 1870. In my book I reported of Rickmansworth’ (policy 79158). that it had been possible to identify 66 Wucklo's notes indicate this was a three of the 76 public houses sold to the storey house with stables, coach house, Cannon Brewery in 1924; 45 were in wash houses and lofts valued at £400.10 Hertfordshire, 13 in Buckinghamshire, During the following year he insured a and six were in Middlesex (now part of brewhouse, mill house and malt house at Greater London).13 Checking more World's End for £350 (policy 79159). In recently available accurate records has 22 Journal of the Brewery History Society since shown that six in Hertfordshire had (from Deed Room, Benskin House, been closed, sold or leases finished Watford). before the 1924 sale. 4. Report of the present state of repair of public houses in 1837 (Watford The discovery of Poole's Allied Brewery Museum). Project in Hertfordshire Local Studies 5. Conveyance of brewery and some Library, access to the Cannon Brewery pubs, 24 June 1890 by Capt Wodehouse Estate Book14 which had been trans- and others to Salter & Co Ltd and other ferred from the Allied Brewery Archives in deeds of 1868, 1889, 1893 and 1900 Burton on Trent to the London Archives, (from Deed Room, Benskin House, Brown's book on Buckinghamshire brew- Watford). eries15 and Wucklo's notes on Salter's 6. Conveyance of Rickmansworth Brewery has made it possible to get more Brewery and properties to Cannon detailed and accurate information and Brewery Co Ltd in 1924 (from Deed obtain a better understanding of Salter's Room, Benskin House, Watford). brewery, the tied estate and other properties. The information in these abstracts makes it possible to obtain a fairly Poole's project consists of a series of detailed factual account of the growth of hand written abstracts of deeds and other the brewery estate and establish which relevant matter that are bound in two tied houses, off-licences and other prop- volumes and the following relate to erties were sold and leases transferred to Salter's brewery: the Cannon Brewery in 1924 (Table 1) and the tied properties and other proper- 1. Miscellaneous documents 1825-1895 ties that were sold, only leased or closed which deal with various leases by Salter before the sale (Table 2). The 1825 and & Woodman, Salter, Woodman & 1890 columns in the tables refer to data Fellowes (from Deed Room, Benskin in these abstracts. Original dates of pur- House, Watford). chase or other dates and other properties 2. A lease on the 24 February 1819 from are quoted with reference origins when it Mr Joseph Skidmore of Rickmansworth, has been possible to trace them. Some of maltster to Messrs Samuel Salter and these deeds also show how money was Thomas Woodman of Rickmansworth, borrowed by mortgaging the brewery and brewers for four inns in Rickmansworth properties. (from Deed Room, Benskin House, Watford). The growth of the tied estate was initially 3. A deed of 10 October 1825 transfer- very gradual. After the purchase of the ring a tied estate of 78 licensed proper- Coach and Horses with a brewhouse in ties plus other premises and land from Rickmansworth High Street, the next Samuel Salter to Woodman and Fellowes known property was the White Horse in Brewery History Number 143 23 Elstree in 1751.16 Between 1759 and Rickmansworth and Chesham. St Albans 1808 there were also purchases of the was the furthest north, Beaconsfield was Chequers in Ickenham in 1759,17 the the furthest west, Uxbridge the furthest White Hart in Edgware in 1762,18 the south and Elstree the furthest east. George in Chesham in 1764,19 the White Hart in Watford in 1765,20 the Rose and Poole did not make any reference to Crown at Mill End in Rickmansworth in in deeds to finance the purchase of over 50 1767,21 the Bell in Pinner in 1770,22 the more properties between 1808 and 1825 Swan in Chesham in 1771,23 the or finance for tripling the capacity of the Feathers in Uxbridge in 1772,24 the brewery to cope with extra demand. It Green Man in Bushey in 1773,25 the does not appear from the available infor- Rose and Crown in Rickmansworth26 mation that Salter's bought a brewery and the Bull in Chesham in 1774,27 the with a tied estate in Chesham. Poole did White Horse in Elstree and the White not abstract any deeds on a Chesham Horse in Little Stanmore in 1779,28 the brewery. Feathers in Rickmansworth in 1780,29 the Blue Boar (later Metropolitan) in Neither Wucklo nor Brown recorded any Uxbridge in 1783,30 the Vine in Hillingdon brewery purchase by the Salter family. in 1783,31 the Red Lion in Elstree in Most of these properties would appear to 1786,32 the Cross in Maple Cross in have been bought separately from inn 1793,33 the White Bear in Batchworth owners or local gentry.

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