History
Seth Senior & The Brewery
Seth Senior founded the Sovereign Brewery in 1829. He lived in a cottage (which today forms part of the Sovereign Inn), with his wife, Martha and their children.
Before the days of hot water and washing machines, houses had an open fire built into the corner of the room. Above the fire was a cauldron fixed into the brickwork, which was used to heat water. This was called a set-pot.
There was a natural spring supplying soft water near the cottage and Seth decided to use this soft water to begin brewing beer in the set-pot of his cottage.
It is said that Seth borrowed one sovereign, a gold coin worth £1, to buy his first ingredients to begin brewing and so called his beers Sovereign Ales.
The front & reverse of a gold sovereign
The Sovereign Pub at Shepley 2003
Local people tell an alternative story of the naming of Soveriegn Ales. The story goes that, many years ago, on a cold and snowy winter’s evening, a wandering tinsmith arrived at the door of Lane Head House, Shepley. He asked for some hot water as his wife was having a baby in a nearby field.
Lane Head House
The owners of Lane Head House, the Firths, kindly offered the tinsmith and his wife shelter in the loft above the coach house. A baby boy was born to the couple and was named Seth.
The grateful tinsmith did many odd jobs for the Firths in return for their kindness. They stayed at Lane Head House until the spring when Mr. Firth gave the family a gold sovereign. They used this money to rent a cottage at the top of the hill. It was from this cottage that Seth Senior started to brew his beer.
The Sovereign Brewery proved very successful, and demand was soon too great for the cottage to cope with. Seth then bought a nearby site at Piper’s Well Road in Highfield. Before long, he was able to purchase still more land at Lowfield giving him 2 brewery sites. The main site was the Highfield one which included offices, loading bays etc as well as the main brewery.
Sketch map of the area
The brewery was famous for its bottled ales and fruit drinks. Lemonade, sold in narrow necked glass bottles with marble stoppers was produced but as business flourished, ginger beer, soda, seltzer water and hop ale was sold. Over 1000 barrels of fine ales and beers were produced each week.
A carving said to be of Seth but since lost during alterations to the Sovereign Inn, used to be found over the archway of the Seniors’ cottage.
The lost carving – Seth Senior?
Seth & Martha had 11 children all told and 2 of their sons, Reuben & James, joined their father in running the brewery. They took over The Sovereign Brewery after Seth’s death in 1878.