A1-The Great North Road

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Tadcaster

The Great North Road branched north of Ferrybridge, with the western road, the A1's route, heading for Wetherby, while the eastern branch went via York.  It is this road that puts Tadcaster on our map, though its origins lie in Roman times.  Here is Speight's account from 1883:

It is very probable that the site of the parish churchyard was a burial-ground of the Romans, and of their successors the Saxons and Danes, although many interments in Roman times were made beside the highway leading between Tadcaster and York.  So plentiful have been such discoveries on this road that it has been called the “Street of Tombs.” ... The direction of this road, I may further point out, affords proof of the position of the Roman Calcaria at Tadcaster and not at Newton Kyme. The road came down Garnett Lane, Station Road, and along the north side of the Parish Church, across the Wharfe, where I am told remains of an old pavement have been observed, and up Rosemary Lane on to the York Road, which it leaves at Tadcaster Bar. Thence it continues in a straight line by the Old Street, passing Street Houses, where it leaves the highway again, and continues through fields to the north of Copmanthorpe, joining the highway again at the inn known as the old Ginger Beer House, and so into York by Miciclegate Bar.

A castle was erected here at an early period, but it had disappeared before Leland's time, who, in his Itinerary, says: "It (the castle) seemeth, by the plot, that it was a right statelie thing," and he further tells us that "Sum say that Wharfe bridge was last made of part of the ruines of the old Castelle of Tadcaster,"  The bridge, whether or not of robbed stone, carried the York arm of Great North Road over the Wharfe.  The stone bridge was probably built around 1240 but in 1273, jurors were ignorant as to the origin of the toll levied on bridge's users.  It was said then to have existed for "Time out of memory".  The water level in the Wharfe can vary dramatically and in dry weather sometimes becomes very low. It was on an occasion of this kind that Dr. Eades, the witty Dean of Winchester, wrote the distich -

               "The Muse in Tadcaster can find no theme,

                 But a most noble bridge without a stream."

But, when the doctor again passed through the town later in the year, the river presented a very altered appearance, and caused the doctor to change his opinion. He accordingly wrote:

               "The verse before on Tadcaster was just,

                 But now great floods we see, and dirt for dust."

About a quarter-of-a-mile above the bridge is a handsome viaduct of eleven arches spanning the Wharfe. This was erected whilst George Hudson was the ruling spirit in the railway world, but with the collapse of the "Railway King" the line, which was intended to connect Tadcaster with York, was abandoned. The viaduct was subsequently purchased by the North-Eastern Railway Co.  The above notes came from Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890)

Tadcaster is a brewing town of great antiquity; it seems to have begun in the thirteenth century, and at the present day its huge brew-houses lift their great bulk high above the horizon when viewed from afar. So wrote Gordon Home in 1922.

So never mind castles and bridges, Tadcaster is about beer.  Here's the story as told by Ted Bruning in 1982:

"The Old Brewery, which is just behind the Angel and White Horse, was Beaumont's in 1772 (and it was nearly a century old then) when it was purchased by the Hartley family.  John Smith bought it in the 1850s, and on his death his son William built the new brewery, which kept the name John Smith's.  In 1886, however, Samuel Smith, John's grandson and William's nephew, re-equipped the Old Brewery and ran it in direct competition with his uncle.  Since the the two have grown further apart: John's is now part of the Courage empire and produces no real ale; Sam's is one of the country's leading independent breweries and produces nothing else."

More recently the "Courage empire" has become part of Bass but round the back of the Tower Brewery, Bass have been doing their bit to save the planet in the form of Tadpole Cutting, a wildlife garden created from an area of old railway line once used for coal delivery and beer distribution.  The front is less inspiring:

But let's stick to the real stuff.  Sam Smith's Brewery is a ramshackle collection of brick buildings from various ages surrounding a modern concrete edifice but this is where the Real Ale comes from.

Here's a closer look at the Gentlemen's Public Convenience round the back of Sam Smiths:

Here's a virtual tour of Sam Smith's.

And here's a tour of the rest of Tadcaster.

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