The Bridge Inn in Topsham

Did Jeroen Aldertsz Vlieland and his crew drink in The Bridge Inn in Topsham. 

The Bridge Inn in Topsham, the port where we know that Jeroen Aldertsz Vlieland traded as a master mariner, has just had its heritage listing upgraded by Historic England because of its remarkable interior, including a stonefireplace, a salt cupboard, a hatch through which ale was served and a malthouseat the back to brew its own beer, with a large brewing chimney and the remainsof the stone floor where the hops were spread out to dry, just like William Millenwould have had at Syndale Farm. Standing on Bridge Hill, the building was mentioned in the Domesday Book, butflourished as public house especially after 1797, and Jeroen would certainly haveknown it. Built of local stone and cob (compacted clay and straw), it had its ownquay and salt refinery (see below). 

We know how important Topsham was in the wool and cloth trade, but the ships that brought back cod fish to the port fromNewfoundland from the 1640s until the early 1700s supported local work for carpenters, rope-makers, coopers (barrel-makers) and chandlers (candle-makers), all of which was lost during the conflicts with Spain and Holland and then the Napoleonic Wars.

Salt was vital to preserve the Newfoundland catch while it was being transportedback to Devon in the ship’s hold and then to cure it before it, and local-caughtsalmon, were transported to up-country buyers. The marshlands around Topsham had been mined for salt from medieval times: in 1836, the town’s Saltworks was auctioned as a going concern at the Salutation Inn, along with 2 acres of land, the quay and ’two neat dwellings’.

 

The salty sea-water from themarsh land was collected in massive shallow iron pans and the liquid evaporated above a furnace so that the crystals were left as sediment, shovelled into woodenblocks by a ‘lumpman’, and then dried and raised to the first-floor warehouse bya ‘loftman’ for sale. Even as late as the 1950s in England you could go to agrocer’s shop and buy a slice off a salt block and grate it into grains at home. Salt was also a valuable trade item, taxed heavily by the government Board of Excise. For domestic use, it was so expensive that it was kept in a stone salt cupboard or hand-made wooden salt-box, often with a lock and key, and hung by the fire so the grains could be kept dry and free from mould, and just a tiny spoonful used for cooking or at meals. In wealthier households, the salt-spoons themselves were part of the family silver, made by firms such as Thomas Eustace of Exeter, with a scallop-shaped bowl and an engraved handle In New England states such as Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the settlers from England in the 1630s built ‘salt-box houses’, mimicking the shape of their salt-box from home, with one slope of the roof much lower than the other to protect the house from snow or extreme heat.

Thanks to Barbara for her lovely contribution