Thrale/Thrall history

Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England



 


Tree: UK Thrale family

Notes:

A fuller account of the history of the Anchor Brewery.

Location

The brewery was situated in a 9-acre compound in Southwark, with:

  • clerks’ quarters;
  • storehouses;
  • vaults and vats;
  • stabling and dung pits for nearly 100 horses.

The address was Deadmans Place, so called because of the pest houses established there during the great plague. It was near Bandyleg Walk, Dirty Lane, The Naked Boy, The Clink, Frying Pan Alley and St. Mary Overy’s Dock. Next door was was a noisy and dusty stonecutter’s yard. Behind lay an old burial ground, and behind that, an open sewer. Then there were the tanneries and Messrs Potts’s vinegar factory. Mixed in were odd patches of open space locals used as tenter ground for stretching cloth.



Map of Anchor Brewery in 1875..


The whole area was subject to flooding. Over the road was Clink Street, handy for the Clink Prison, described at the time as…
a very gloomy hole.
… and …
London’s scrap heap, the refuge of its excluded occupations and its rejected residents.
Maid Lane, which joined Deadmans Place at the river end in 1751, was…
A long straggling place with ditches on either side; the passages to the houses being over little bridges.1
By 1810, the site had expanded to almost 14 acres with the greatest production of beer worldwide.

Brewery House

Brewery House, or Borough House, was a four-storey building located at the entrance of the cobbled brew yard of Thrale’s Anchor Brewery. One of Henry Thrale’s residences, mainly used by Henry, Hester, thier children and Dr. Samuel Johnson during the winter months.



Brewery House in 1833.

Now known as 21 and 23 Park Street Southwark, London. The dilapidated building, which at one point was used as council housing was sold by Southwark Council in 2013 for £2.96 million - making it the:

most expensive council house in the UK.



'Brewery House, 21-23 Park Street Southwark in June 2024 (half the house frontage is obscured by the tree).



'Brewery House', 21-23 Park Street, Southwark, London, 4 June 2024.

Timeline

YearYearsOwnerNote
1616-165741James MongerEstablished
1657-167013James Monger (the Younger)
1670-169626James Child
1696-172933Edmund Halsey
1729-175829Ralph Thrale, t/a Thrale & Company
1758-178123Henry Thrale, t/a H. Thrale & Company Limited
1781-179817Barclay Perkins & Company, t/a Thrale & CompanyContinued to trade under name 'Thrale & Co'
1895- 9 May 195560Barclay Perkins & Company, t/a Barclay Perkins'Thrale & Co' trading name retired.
15 July 1955Courage, Barclay & Company LimitedBrewing ceased at the Bankside site, and was relocated to Courage in Bermondsey, London.

Production

On 21 January 1780 Hester wrote in Thraliana

We shall brew but Sixty Thousand Barrels of Beer this Year! pretty Times indeed; and Mr Smelt saying he wishes we had more Taxes, & the King more power: I wish the King would put an End to this destructive War I’m sure; the Year before last we brew’d 96,000 Barrels—last Year only 76,000, & this Winter we shall scarece turn 60,000. So horribly is the Consumption lessened by the War.

Year BarrelsOwner
175046,100Ralph Thrale
175832,622
176030,000Henry Thrale. One of the top ten porter brewers in London.
177785,287
177896,000
177976,000
178060,000
178285,700
1802137,463Barclay & Perkins
1809260,000
1810200,000
1815330,000
1826 380,180
1867423,000

Contemporary use

Now, it is part of a wider area called Bankside which is a strip of land running along the River Thames, comprising:

Footnotes

  • London and Its Environs Described. Robert Dodsley, 1751.↩︎

  • A fuller account of the history of the Anchor Brewery.




    Address : Latitude: 51.5081292, Longitude: -0.09518690000004426


    Media

    Photos
    Anchor brewery circa 1785
    Anchor brewery circa 1785
    Anchor Brewery by G Yates in 1826
    Anchor Brewery by G Yates in 1826
    Borough or Brewery House in 1833
    Borough or Brewery House in 1833
    Anchor brewery plaque
    Anchor brewery plaque
    Park Street, Southwark
    Anchor brewery fire in 1832 by William Clarkson Stanfield
    Anchor brewery fire in 1832 by William Clarkson Stanfield
    A painting of a disastrous fire in 1832 at the Anchor Brewery on Bankside by William Clarkson Stanfield. Purchased by Guildhall Art Gallery on 22 July 2009 for £4,375.
    Park Street plaque of attack on Genral Haynau at Anchor Brewery
    Park Street plaque of attack on Genral Haynau at Anchor Brewery
    "GENERAL HAYNAU 'THE AUSTRIAN BUTCHER' WAS RECOGNISED AND ATTACKED BY BARCLAY & PERKINS DRAYMEN"
    Russian Imperial Stout.
    Russian Imperial Stout.
    Manufactured at Anchor Brewery, 1962.
    Anchor Brewery, Park Street entrance, c.1820.
    Anchor Brewery, Park Street entrance, c.1820.
    By John Thomas Smith.
    'Brewery House', 2024.
    'Brewery House', 2024.
    21-23 Park Street Southwark, London.
    'Brewery House', 2024.
    'Brewery House', 2024.
    21-23 Park Street Southwark, London.
    John Perkins.
    John Perkins.
    By Lemuel Francis Abbott, 1809.
    1881 centenary commemorative coin.
    1881 centenary commemorative coin.
    Anchor Brewery c.1826.
    Anchor Brewery c.1826.
    Former Anchor Brewery Offices in Anchor Terrace.
    Former Anchor Brewery Offices in Anchor Terrace.
    Now used for housing.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout.
    Bottle labelling.
    Barclays Russian Imperial Stout advert, 1936.
    Barclays Russian Imperial Stout advert, 1936.
    Tatler Magazine 11 November 1936.
    Barclays Russian Imperial Stout label, 1950.
    Barclays Russian Imperial Stout label, 1950.
    Barclays Russian Imperial Stout label, 1975.
    Barclays Russian Imperial Stout label, 1975.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout bottle poster.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout bottle poster.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout label.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout label.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout label.
    Barclay Perkins Russian Imperial Stout label.
    Anchor Volunteers drawing.
    Anchor Volunteers drawing.
    Anchor Volunteers postcard.
    Anchor Volunteers postcard.
    Anchor Volunteers uniform jacket.
    Anchor Volunteers uniform jacket.
    Anchor Volunteers uniform shako.
    Anchor Volunteers uniform shako.

    Documents
    Anchor Brewery, 1781 sale.
    Anchor Brewery, 1781 sale.
    Deed of sale of Anchor Brewery on 31 May 1781.
    Anchor brewery seventeenth century accounts
    Anchor brewery seventeenth century accounts
    Domestic accounts kept by Edmund Halsey in the 17th century.
    Anchor brewery, Southwark, plan 1875
    Anchor brewery, Southwark, plan 1875
    Plan of Bankside (based on the 1875 Ordnance Survey). Note the Borough Waterworks Company (in pink) which supplied water to the brewery.
    Map of Harrow Corner, Southwark
    Map of Harrow Corner, Southwark
    Map of Bankside, 1775.
    Map of Bankside, 1775.
    Bowles plan of London.

    Histories
    Henry Thrale's will
    Henry Thrale's will
    Henry Thrale died on 4 April 1781 between 5 am and 6 am. The will, dated 17 March 1781, was read by the male executors on 5 April 1781. his wife, Hester, was later informed of its provisions by Samuel Johnson.

    Executors

    Dr. Samuel Johnson's close friendship with the Thrale family.
    Dr. Samuel Johnson's close friendship with the Thrale family.
    Samuel Johnson’s close friendship with Henry and Hester Thrale began in 1765, declined in 1781 after Henry’s death and mostly ended 1784 just before Hester married Gabriel Piozzi.
    Anchor Brewery, Bankside, London (1616-1986).
    Anchor Brewery, Bankside, London (1616-1986).
    The history of Anchor brewery from 1616 until 1986, including the 52 years between 1729 & 1781 in which it was owned by Ralph and Henry Thrale.

    Birth

    Matches 1 to 4 of 4

       Last Name, Given Name(s)    Birth    Person ID   Tree 
    1 Thrale, (miscarried)  10 Aug 1779Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I2168 UK Thrale family 
    2 Thrale, Frances  27 Sep 1765Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I216 UK Thrale family 
    3 Thrale, Henry Salusbury  15 Feb 1767Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I670 UK Thrale family 
    4 Thrale, Susannah Arabella  23 May 1770Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I93 UK Thrale family 

    Death

    Matches 1 to 2 of 2

       Last Name, Given Name(s)    Death    Person ID   Tree 
    1 Thrale, (miscarried)  10 Aug 1779Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I2168 UK Thrale family 
    2 Thrale, Henry Salusbury  23 Mar 1776Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I670 UK Thrale family 

    Note

    Matches 1 to 1 of 1

       Last Name, Given Name(s)    Note    Person ID   Tree 
    1 Thrale, Anna  Aug 1729Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I70 UK Thrale family 

    Occupation

    Matches 1 to 4 of 4

       Last Name, Given Name(s)    Occupation    Person ID   Tree 
    1 Halsey, Edmund MP  Between 1693 and 1729Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I746 UK Thrale family 
    2 Thrale, Henry M.P.  10 Apr 1758Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I83 UK Thrale family 
    3 Thrale, Ralph M.P.  Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I69 UK Thrale family 
    4 Thrale, Ralph M.P.  Between 1693 and 9 Apr 1758Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I69 UK Thrale family 

    Property

    Matches 1 to 1 of 1

       Last Name, Given Name(s)    Property    Person ID   Tree 
    1 Salusbury, Hester Lynch  31 May 1781Anchor Brewery, Southwark, Surrey, England I87 UK Thrale family