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Norwich Brewers

Oak Street and St. Miles

1 - 4

2. Peter Finch : 3. Day / Morse : 4. Earlier Cases

1. : Charles Clarke

The Brewery : St. Miles (later Philadelphia)
The brewery is described as being 'opposite the Church'
(St. Michael at Coslany) i.e. on the West side of
(present-day) Oak Street, at Brewhouse Yard.

Certainly by 1830 William Clarke (father?)
was the brewer and licensee.
The foundation date was claimed to be 1811, and the
more pretentious title was Norfolk & Norwich Brewery.
The brewery "tap" (next door) was the "Barleycorn".
By 1839 the licensee of the "tap" was
Robert Dotheredge.
See the 1845 Official List, by which time
Hannah Dotheredge appears.
She seems to have been widowed c. 1842.

Charles Clarke appears at the Barleycorn by 1851.
It is arguable that the Clarke family had been the
actual brewers throughout the 40-year period.
However, the 1845 List had shown Dotheredge
as the brewery tie for four other pubs :-

  • Coopers' Arms, Elm Hill
  • Earl of Leicester, Dereham Road
  • Tiger, St.Stephen's Back Street
  • William IV, Shadwell Street, Crook's Place
Similarly, Clarke was not the licensee
of the "tap" from 1854 to c. 1867.

Indeed in March 1854 the brewery was offered for sale
at auction, and included the "tap" and three tied houses :
the George IV, Crook's Place; Gardeners' Arms,
Midland Street and Earl of Leicester, already mentioned.
From 1854 Thomas Eade was licensee; and,
in the 1851 Census, Hannah Dotheredge was
described as a servant.

Charles Clarke was again listed in 1856 as brewing
in Tooley Street, an earlier name for Duke Street -
not far away, but possibly an error.

It is difficult to see how the brewery output was
distributed, in following years, as all the pubs
(including the Barleycorn) were either closed
or in other hands by 1867 (see below).
However, by then, Charles Clarke
was again listed as licensee.

Continued . . .

  (contd.)

William Bird & Co. were listed at the
St Miles Brewery in the 1869 Directory.
It is entirely unlikely that Bullard's Brewery
was implicated, especially as Bird claimed a
foundation date of 1811 - in his adverts.

In 1870 Charles Clarke moved his brewing to the
environs of the Poplar Gardens pub on Aylsham Road.
His new brewery was known as the
"Philadelphia" Brewery.
Clarke was last listed as a brewer in 1876.

From May 1879 his widow Martha became the licensee,
possibly not doing the hard brewery work; and in
August 1881 Henry Bathurst Long took overall charge.
He was listed as a brewer in the 1890 and 1892 Directories.
Henry remained as licensee until December 1899.

The Poplar Gardens pub was replaced by the
Edward VII in November 1902; having been taken over
by Morgan's sometime after 1894. The brewery itself
was closed in 1903.

The St. Miles brewery had ties, at one time or another,
to the following pubs :-

By 1867 -
  • the Tiger and Coopers' Arms had closed;
  • the Gardeners' Arms had passed to
          Fred Brown's Brewery (King Street);
  • the Barleycorn itself to Steward & Patteson;
  • the William IV to Bullards;
  • and the remaining two to Young's & Crawshay.

2. : Peter Finch

The Brewery : St. Mary's Plain, Oak Street
In 1771 Peter Finch, son of the Rev. Peter Finch at the
Octagon Chapel, purchased Nuthall's brewery.
(Also see Benjamin Nuthall of Rampant Horse Street).

The brewery was listed in 1802 as Peter Finch in
Coslany Street. The old sequential numbering system(s)
gave 41 in 1802, but 125 in 1805 !!

Finch died, aged 81, in 1807 - leaving only a son-in-law
in charge; his own son (Edmund Rolfe) having died at
the very early age of 29.
Eventually his two grandchildren, also named Peter and
Edmund Rolfe, took over the brewery in 1812.

  In 1830 the brewery was listed as :-
Finch, Edmund Rolfe & Peter, St. Mary's Plain.
Sadly, the second Edmund also
died prematurely in 1831.
The latest Peter Finch was Sheriff in 1825 and Mayor
in 1827, and lived in a large flint house in the parish.

Finch also had a maltings in Finch's Yard adjacent to
the Maltsters pub in Cowgate.

The brewery was taken over by
Steward & Patteson Brewery in 1837;
hence the new name : "Steward, Patteson & Finch".

 
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3. : Day / Morse/ Adams

St. Martin's Brewery : Oak Street
In the 1783 Directory John Day was recorded as a
brewer in Coslany Street. The number, under the
old, sequential system, was 94.
Day was running another brewery
at 38/39 Bethel Street in 1783.

In 1791 Day's brewery was the largest in Norwich,
with 83 licences in the immediate area.
33 pubs were held freehold or on long lease,
24 on various short leases, and 20 on yearly leases only.
The Prince Ferdinand is a case which seems to show
that any lease under 50 years was regarded as short-term.

Also 30 houses were owned in the County districts;
with just 5 being held on short-term leases.

The Centre of E. Anglian Studies book gives 1794
as the year of John Day's death.

By October 1794 the Executor offered all these pubs,
plus the brewery, for sale by auction. That the brewery,
and all 57 (or 77 ?) local pubs, were left unsold; was
clearly due to offering them in one huge lot.
Conversely, the 30 'County' pubs were offered individually.

Patteson's (very new) brewery picked up just 4 of the
freehold etc. county pubs, probably at the time.

Presumably all landlords forfeited their licences on the
death of John Day, as the 83 City Council licences were
sold, along with the pubs, by way of "goodwill" purchase.

Continued . . .

  (contd.)
A repeat exercise, on 13th July 1797, at the
Angel Hotel on The Walk, saw 32 Norwich
freehold etc. pubs offered.
Meanwhile, 5 had 'disappeared', but there were 4
replacements : 3 of these being the (presumed)
residue of the 1794 County list.
20 more pubs were included, i.e. the vast majority of
the 24 short-term leases. No mention was made,
this time, of the equal number of yearly-hired cases.

The Centre of E. A. Studies book states that
John Morse, in 1797, bought all 21 pubs, as well as
the brewery, from the Executor of John Day.
As the method of sale was, again, all-or-nothing,
it is difficult to explain what happened to the other
31 houses, and how things were handled at the
auction, on the day - or later.

John Morse was Mayor of Norwich in 1781 and 1803.
He lived in St. Catherine's Close, and specialised in
brewing porter; as Day had done.
Subsequently the brewery was listed in 1802 as
Morse & Adams.
Adams seems to have left the brewery
around 1823 or 1824.

The brewery, and those pubs remaining, were finally
taken over by Steward & Patteson in 1831, the ill-fated
brewery then being run by George Morse,
who was also listed as a merchant.

For details of the tied-estate to 1831,
see the separate list.

The brewery was possibly at Old Brew Yard
(122 Oak Street), opposite the Key & Castle pub.
A photo of the Yard appears in CLUER & SHAW :
Former Norwich, page 89.

4. : Earlier Cases

Oak Street

In 1802, J. Moss was listed as a porter brewer
at No. 57 St. Martin's.

As late as 1830, T. Whittaker was listed as a brewer in St. Miles.

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