Lathered in History: Bristol’s Sudsy Past

It doesn’t look like much, but this is a lump of fifteenth century fat found during our excavations at Bristol’s Redcliffe Quarter. It has been saponified, which means that it was on the way to being turned into soap. Needless to say, ‘fat’ is not a common find. It may be evidence of the activities of a soapmaker.  

Image: saponified fat

Soapmaking is documented in Bristol from the late 15th century onwards. Early soapmaking involved boiling and rendering fats or oils and mixing them with lye, an alkali made from wood ash. This noxious process was carried out in backyards, away from domestic accommodation. We don’t yet know the source of our fat, but soaps were made from both animal fats and vegetable oils. 

In the 16th century, John Smythe imported Spanish olive oil to Bristol, sold for soapmaking, while in the 17th century the soap trade relied on imported whale fat, principally from the North Atlantic and the coast of North America. The history of the area covered by our excavation was researched by Roger Leech. Roger’s research has shown that in 1505, Thomas Elyot, who had property on Redcliff Street, left to his son Nicolas ‘fate ffurneys cestren’ cestren etc’, —fat, furnaces and cisterns—which may suggest a connection with soap making.

Soapmaking became one of the foremost industries in this part of Bristol from the 16th and 17th centuries onwards. In 1640, Michael Puxton leased a property on St Thomas Street and in the late 17th century on the west side of the street against the River Avon. Other recorded soapmakers included Joseph Lewis at no. 129 (1700), Henry Rich at no. 130 (1668) and Richard Benson at no. 138 (1687). During the 17th century, King Charles I granted a monopoly to the London-based Company of Soapboilers, which meant that the soapmaking industry in Bristol was restricted for a time, but the 18th and 19th centuries saw an increase with more soapworks and factories established.

Image: 13th or 14th century image of bathing in a tub © British Library Archive, Royal 10 E. IV, f.297v

Our fat dates earlier than this, however, having been found in a late 15th-century pit which had been dug to the rear of a stone-built medieval building situated towards the back of a plot on Redcliff Street. The conditions in the pit must have been just right to preserve the fat. A slightly later, circular limestone hearth in the area, 2m in diameter, was reminiscent of the base of a dye vat, although may also have been associated with soapmaking.

This area saw other industry besides soapmaking, and a number of other hearths and vat bases were found during our excavations, dating from the medieval period onwards. These may have been used for a range of purposes, including for heating dyes, tanning, malting, brewing, washing, baking, and heating water, and this part of Bristol was evidently an important focus for a range of industrial processes.  

Further reading 
Nigel Baker, Jonathan Brett & Robert Jones Bristol – a worshipful town and famous city: an archaeological assessment, Oxbow, 2018