ESSEX AS A WINE-PRODUCING COUNTY. 35
This subject is of interest from more than one point of view.
I propose, therefore, in what follows, to repeat and amplify the
evidence in support of the foregoing statements which I adduced
when replying to Mr. Sergeant's enquiry.2
That viniculture was formerly carried on in many other
counties in the South of England is, of course, well known.
The subject has been discussed by not a few competent writers,
among the chief of whom may be mentioned the Rev. Samuel
Pegge,3 the Hon. Daines Barrington,4 Richard Gough,5 Hudson
Turner,6 Sir Henry Ellis,7 Charles Roach Smith,8 J. Maskell, 9
Edmund Venables,10 and J. Horace Round.11 Moreover, a great
many notes relating to the former occurrence of vineyards in the
southern counties of England are to be found in the pages of
Notes and Queries.
It should, however, be mentioned that one of the foregoing
writers, namely Barrington, criticising the statements of the Rev.
Samuel Pegge, altogether denies the possibility of the vine having
ever been cultivated in this country for the purpose of making
wine and declares that the numerous ancient records in which
vineae are mentioned refer, not to vineyards as we now understand
the term, but to gardens in which pears, apples, or other fruits
were cultivated for the purpose of making some kind of perry or
cider. Barrington's arguments, which he states at great length,
may apply in some cases ; but they are altogether inconclusive
as proof that the vine could not be, and never has been,
cultivated in this country for the purpose of wine-making, and
they have failed to convince anyone. The controversy between
Pegge and Barrington is, however, interesting and amusing on
account of the vast amount of profound erudition which the
disputants displayed, side by side with a profound ignorance of
easily-accessible every-day knowledge. Each ostentatiously
quotes and discusses many obscure and abstruse passages from
the early Greek, Latin, Saxon, and Norman writers ; but each
neglects, in a manner not uncommon at the period, to adduce
2 See Essex County Chronicle, Dec. 16th, 1898
3 Archaeologia. vol. i. (1770), pp. 319-332 ; also vol. iii.(1776), pp. 53-66.
4 Ibid, vol. iii, pp. 67-95.
5 Gentleman's Magazine, 1775. pp. 513-516.
6 Archaeological Journal, vol. v. (1848). pp. 295-300.
7 General Introduction to Domesday Book (1833), vol. i, pp. 116-122.
8 Collectanea Antiqua, vol. vi. (1867), pp. 76-109.
9 Notes and Queries. 7th series, vol vi. (1888). pp. 321-322.
10 Notes and Queries. 7th series, vol. xii. (1891), p. 10.
11 See post.