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Title: Newburgh Priory - HLS05954
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Title
Newburgh Priory - HLS05954
Description
Slide 27 - Ancient Peg Tankard and Black Jacks.
Among other curios in the Hall are three Black Jacks made of leather to hold ale, from a gallon downwards, to one quart. These date from the time of Cromwell.
In addition to these there is an ancient ale peg tankard made of oak. It has a hinged lid. On a card attached to the latter in the handwriting of Sir George Wombwell is the following -
'This tankard belonged to the Monks of Newburgh, in the reign of Henry the 8th'
for the invention of the peg tankard we are indebted to no less a personage than Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury AD960 - 988, who, to check the vicious habits of excessive drinking among the Anglo -Saxons, advised King Edgar to adopt the ingenious custom of marking or pegging their cups at certain distances to restrain one man from taking a larger draught than his companion, which for a time lessened the evil, though it proved in the end productive of greater excesses.
This tankard has in the inside, a row of eight pins, one above another from top to bottom, and held two quarts, so that there was a gill of ale, that is half a pint, Winchester measure, between each pin.
The first person was to empty the tankard to the first peg or pin, the second was to empty to the second pin etc, by which means the pins were so many measures, making them all drink alike, or the same quantity. If they drank short of the pin, or beyond it, they were obliged to drink again. Hence the expression, 'A peg too low'
Among other curios in the Hall are three Black Jacks made of leather to hold ale, from a gallon downwards, to one quart. These date from the time of Cromwell.
In addition to these there is an ancient ale peg tankard made of oak. It has a hinged lid. On a card attached to the latter in the handwriting of Sir George Wombwell is the following -
'This tankard belonged to the Monks of Newburgh, in the reign of Henry the 8th'
for the invention of the peg tankard we are indebted to no less a personage than Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury AD960 - 988, who, to check the vicious habits of excessive drinking among the Anglo -Saxons, advised King Edgar to adopt the ingenious custom of marking or pegging their cups at certain distances to restrain one man from taking a larger draught than his companion, which for a time lessened the evil, though it proved in the end productive of greater excesses.
This tankard has in the inside, a row of eight pins, one above another from top to bottom, and held two quarts, so that there was a gill of ale, that is half a pint, Winchester measure, between each pin.
The first person was to empty the tankard to the first peg or pin, the second was to empty to the second pin etc, by which means the pins were so many measures, making them all drink alike, or the same quantity. If they drank short of the pin, or beyond it, they were obliged to drink again. Hence the expression, 'A peg too low'
Creator
George Hepworth
Source
Hebden Bridge Literary & Scientific Society
Date
1905 , 1900s
Rights
PHDA - Hebden Bridge Local History Society
Relation
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Identifier
HLS05954.tif
Collection
Citation
George Hepworth, “Newburgh Priory - HLS05954,” Pennine Horizons Digital Archive, accessed April 24, 2024, https://penninehorizons.org/items/show/7350.
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