Topham Arms House Melmerby
Topham Arms House used to be a farm and was also the village pub. It closed as a licensed premises around 1960, the last landlord being Lawrence Stockdale. The photographs below show the house as it is now and the last signboard - it was found in the adjoining stable during renovation of the house. (Click on any of the small photographs to enlarge them).
 |
 |
The house was probably built around the early 18th century (it is shown on the 1790 map) and has an internal stone staircase. There is a very large stone fireplace in what was originally the bar, although in its latter days as a pub, this was hidden behind a “modern” tiled fireplace. The cellar was filled-in during renovation work, although the house retains the original stone and slate shelves in the former larder. There are several outbuildings, one of which now houses the brewery.
History of Topham Arms House (from Trades Directories, Maps and Other Documents)
1790 Building is shown on a map of Melmerby in NYCRO.
1823 Law Christopher, Viscount PH, and Plumber/Glazier. (Baines Directory).
1840 Law Christopher, Viscount PH, and Plumber/Glazier. (Directory of 1840)
1856 OS 6 inch to 1 mile map 1st Edition - marked as "Viscount PH".
1857 Law Christopher, Topham Arms, and Plumber/Glazier (PO Directory of Yorkshire).
1872 Law James, Topham Arms, and Plumber/Glazier (PO Directory of Yorkshire).
1878 Building is shown on a map of enclosed land belonging to Thomas Topham
in NYCRO.
1879 Mudd, Alex, Topham Arms, and Farmer. (PO Directory of Yorkshire).
1889 Brunskill William, Topham Arms, and Farmer. (Kelly's Directory of Yorkshire
North and East Ridings with the City of York).
1890 Brunskill William, Topham Arms and Farmer. (Bulmer's Topography of North
Yorkshire).
1893 Hammill Robert, Topham Arms. (Kelly's Directory).
1905 Metcalfe John, Topham Arms. (Kelly's Directory)
1909 Hogg Alfred, Topham Arms, and Farmer (Kelly's Directory).
1913 Hogg Alfred, Topham Arms, and Farmer. (Kelly's Directory).
1921 Hogg Alfred, Topham Arms, and Farmer. (Kelly's Directory).
1925 Hogg Annie (Mrs), Topham Arms. (Kelly's Directory)
1930 approx Hammell Joseph - Topham Arms
1933 Styan John, until 1937.
1946 Tiplady
1960 Stockdale Lawrence - last landlord.
Further information on William Brunskill (kindly supplied by Mr Ian Stewart, great great grandson of William Brunskill – information from Census Returns)
William Brunskill was born in 1847 and originally recorded in 1851 as the son of Lead Miner Ralph Brunskill in Heights, Melbeck.
By 1861 they were living in Mount Pleasant, Melbecks and William was 14 and a lead miner also.
In 1871 He was married to Agnes and had a daughter Phillis, living at Crackpotside and still a lead miner. Another daughter also Agnes was born in 1872. His wife Agnes died in 1874,
By 1881 he was living at Topham Arms and was remarried to Dorothy with 2 more children James and Sam.
By 1891 he was again a widower, living in Newbiggin and with 2 more children Dorothy and Charles. We believe he died himself in 1893 at only 46. Quite an eventful life it would seem.
The Brewery
This was set up by Tony Keates in 2000, in one of the outbuildings at Topham Arms House. Having tried brewing beer from malt extract, I was keen to try brewing using the whole mash technique, which is the way the commercial brewers do it. It is a very small-scale, non-profit making enterprise – the maximum brew size being 5 gallons!
The equipment consists of an insulated mash tun (a modified coolbox, fitted with a rotating sparging arm), a 25 litre thermostatically controlled boiler, a 30 litre primary fermentation vessel and a 25 litre secondary fermentation vessel (both of which are basically large polythene buckets) and a 5 gallon polypropylene barrel fitted with carbon dioxide injection and safety valves and a flip-tap. The mash tun, boiler and fermentation vessels are also fitted with perforated strainers in the base and drum taps. All the beer brewed is dispensed as draught beer straight from the barrel. The photograph below shows the basic setup.(Click on the small photograph to enlarge it).
 |
The brewing process takes about 8 hours, from mashing, to pitching the yeast into the primary fermenter, followed by 3-5 days primary fermentation then 3-5 days secondary fermentation, before the beer is transferred to the barrel for conditioning. It is usually drinkable within 7-14 days and will keep for several weeks (if not drunk earlier!). The majority of beers brewed are pale to golden, well-hopped English bitters and pale ales, although Belgian spiced wheat beer and "real lager" have also been tried. |