Clinch & Co Brewery

Clinch Brewery (1811 – 1961)

[[Witney, Oxfordshire, UK

Traded as William Clinch and Co from 1877-1950, then Clinch & Co 1950-1977

Eagle Brewery, Witney, Oxfordshire]]

A Brief Business History

John Clinch (1754 – 1828) was a prominent Witney banker and landowner who purchased the Marlborough Head PH (Now ‘The Fleece’), at Church Green, Witney, in about 1811. His son James Clinch (1785-1857) founded the first Clinch Brewery at the Marlborough Head between 1811 and 1814.

James’ brother John Williams Clinch I (1788 – 1871) was also involved the enterprise. John Williams Clinch also assumed control of the family bank, JW Clinch and Sons, sometime around 1828.

The Clinch family had considerable land interests both in Witney and in the immediate area and during the 1830s demolished cottages on the west of Church Green to make room for a new Maltings building. Clinchs Eagle Maltings was built originally to malt barley for the Clinch Brewery. However, the Brewery moved to the new premises in about 1840.

John Williams I appears to have assumed control of the majority of family affairs after his brother James death in 1857.

The early death of his eldest son John Williams Clinch II (1814-1861) led to the brewing business coming under the full control of William Clinch (1820 – 1891) the year before the death of his father John Williams I in 1871. (Though Courage records show that William established the brewery business entity at Eagle Maltings in 1840)

William’s only son died young, so upon his death, his brewery business interests appear to have passed to Thomas William Foreshew (b 1849) who had married William’s eldest daughter Rachel Bradshaw Clinch (b 1847)

In 1890, Clinchs bought the Blanket Hall Brewery in Witney. This Brewery had been founded by Joseph Early and William Smith sometime after 1844.

At one time there were 71 pubs held by the Brewery. These were located between Oxford and Swindon and as far north as Birmingham. Also included were 14 pubs in Witney itself. The Brewery attracted several prizes in the 1920s and 30s.

The family lost control of the Board of the Brewery in about 1947, with the company being taken over by Courage in 1962. Courage’s were said to be interested in the tied estate and closed the brewery soon after. Clinch and Co went into voluntary liquidation in 1967, though the legal entity ‘Clinch and Co’ may have survived in Courage’s hands until 1977.

The Brewery lay more or less dormant until the site was bought by Paddy Glenny who opened ‘Eagle Brewery’ in the cellar of the original Clinchs Eagle Maltings.

In 1990, Eagle was renamed Wychwood Brewery.

Wychwood is now a successful brewing business, which is still based around the original Clinchs Eagle Maltings buildings.

Clinch and Co Brewery, Isle of Man (1863 – 1945)

John Williams Clinch III (1839 – 1905) missed inheriting the Witney brewing business because it passed to his uncle William Clinch upon the early death of his father (John Williams II) in 1861. At the time John Williams III was a Brewers Clerk at the brewery in Witney.

In 1863, he rented the Lake Brewery in Douglas Isle of Man, with this coming into his ownership in about 1868.

Clinch and Co, Lake Brewery appears to have had a turbulent business history, with John Williams III struggling to retain direct family control of the Brewery until the banks forced its floatation in the 1890s.

The brewery survived his death in 1905 and enjoyed some success during the early half of the 20th century.

However in 1945, the company and brewery were absorbed by Castletown Brewery.

Sources:

The Book of Witney (Gott 1994)

A Time of Manx Cheer (Crumplin and Rawcliffe 2002)

Various documents and original research by Craig Carey-Clinch (2007)

The wills of John Clinch (1828) & Probate of William Clinch (1891) (Family records office, London, UK)

UK National Archive. Ref Code: ACC/2305, Archive of Courage, Barclay and Simmonds

England and Wales Census 1841-1901

Clinchs Celtic Tavern, North Quay, Douglas, IOM

Wychwood Brewery, Witney, Oxfordshire, UK