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Robert Coates takes a nostalgic look at the cider making industry
Whilst cider making - and drinking - is almost as old as time itself,
transporting it around the countryside is a feature of more recent
times. The Roman historian, Pliny the Elder, wrote about 'this
traditional drink' in AD 77, pointing out that it was west-country soils
and climate which were best suited for growing apples. By the 6th
century, cider had become very popular in France but this was of little
interest to Britain's export efforts because it was well known that
'cider doesn't travel'. Local tradition even had it that Stocklinch
cider wouldn't travel over the hill to Shepton, a distance of little
more than a mile, so it was not to cider-makers that one looked for
anything sophisticated in the way of transport. Indeed, most cider was
brewed on the farm for domestic use.
However, early in the 19th century, the Reverend Thomas Cornish began
selling cider made at Heathfield Rectory, Taunton, and this probably
marks the beginning of cider as a commercial enterprise - and of the
need to distribute it, albeit initially within quite a small area.
Almost a century later, in 1911, two men, Arthur Moore and George
Pallet, joined forces to produce cider on a straightforward commercial
basis. Their business was founded in Norton Fitzwarren, once rather
unkindly described as the 'unlovely suburb of Taunton'. (The village
derives its name from the Saxon 'North Tun', or north farmstead;
Fitzwarren comes from the name of the family who slew the dragon which
arose spontaneously from the fumes of corpses after the battle of Norton
Camp - later the home of 40 Commando, Royal Marines - just in case you
wanted to know!'
Employing half a dozen employees, the Taunton Cider Company was set up
in April 1921 to produce some 10,000 gallons of cider per year. Apples -
of which there are believed to be some 3,000 varieties, many with such
romantic names as Chisel Jersey, Slack ma Girdle, Yarlington Mill and
Tremlett's Bitter - arrived from surrounding orchards by all sorts of
transport, varying from traditional apple-carts to war-surplus lorries
and Ford 'Tin Lizzies'. Traditional
production methods were used. Fermentation was by the 'infection' method
which utilised the natural yeasts, or 'flora' on the skin of the apple,
together with other wild yeasts and bacteria which fallen apples had
picked up from the ground. This produced, no doubt, a lovely cider but
it was inconsistent and probably explains why it didn't travel.
Surprisingly little folklore seems to have survived about the early days
in transport at Taunton. Certainly, things on that side of the business
were relatively relaxed compared with the modern day and, perhaps, one
could say that their methods were.... traditional! Time was of little
consequence and it was easy enough to fiddle the old-fashioned drivers'
log-books to make it look as if a full day's work had been done. The
company was, though, always very image conscious: if a dirty vehicle was
seen, there was 'hell to pay' especially as drivers could claim thirty
minutes each day for vehicle washing. Nearby was another company,
Goodlands, a coal merchant and, understandably, his vehicles were
invariably grimy. If Taunton Cider's transport manager saw a dirty dray
in his yard he would call from his office window, 'Who do you think
you're working for? Goodlands?'
With his eye to an easy life, one of the old vehicle fitters had a
policy, when confronted by a driver's report about some fault or other,
of 'letting things develop' no matter how dire they might be, nor how
vehement a driver's complaint about his vehicle's 'nasty knock'. Faults
almost always did develop and usually on Chepstow Hill which, in the
days before the Severn Bridge, when Gloucester was the first crossing,
meant a journey out of 140 miles and a long, tiring tow back home.
During the 1950s, few commercial vehicles had heaters and, during one
winter, it was so cold in the cab that one of the driver's mates had the
idea of taking a small paraffin heater along with them. Unfortunately,
it smoked so much that it became difficult to see out of the cab and,
when the crew eventually returned in the evening, their faces streaked
with soot and sweat, there was some explaining to do. The early 1950s
also saw the start-up of a ciderbar in Brighton. In those days, Brighton
seemed a long way off and most of the drivers were local draymen not
long-distance drivers, so the journey was viewed with some apprehension.
The first time it was attempted, the whole workforce turned out to bid
farewell to the drivers - there used to be three of them, 'in case
anything went wrong'! -as if they didn't expect to see them again. A
while later, there was a scarlet fever epidemic in the Brighton area so
it was thought to be a good idea to have the dray-crew vaccinated. They
refused on the basis that if vaccinations were required to visit 'they
furrin parts', they didn't want any of it!
In the late 1950s the company expanded, acquiring the Quantock Vale and
Ashford Vale cider companies as well as Bruttons and
Horrells and thoughts turned to other markets During the 1960s, with
the advent of pasteurising, cider - and draught beer became much more
consistent, resulting in the introduction of kegs. This enabled the
product to travel and to keep its quality longer. In tandem with this
development was the need to move the product in ever larger quantities
and the first fork-lift truck was bought for the warehouse in the
mid-1960's. No-one had ever seen one of these strange things before and
it was treated with grave suspicion, not least by the foreman who
trusted neither the truck, nor its driver. As a precaution, he
instituted the practice of walking in front of it at all times -
reminiscent of the Red Flag Act of the 1890s!
These modern developments, coinciding with the beginnings of
long-distance trucking, changed the character of the transport side of
the business which gradually became indistinguishable from any other
large company - and yet another little piece of
individuality slipped into history.
Robert Coates is the author of Pulling Pints - the history of brewery
vehicles fro. the earliest times to the present day. Available from
Somerset Magazine, price £18.95 plus £2.80 p&p.
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