THE MERMAID INN

Some years ago, a Chester antique dealer, knowing of our interest in Deal, presented us with a pewter pint tankard, a fine tapering specimen in Britannia-metal with a domed lid lifted by a short-purchase rolled thumbpiece; the long easy grip handle extends from base to lid. It has a large clear inscription in 3/10" stylist block letters with 1/2" capitals and reads:-

"YE MERMAID INN DEAL"

The first two words form the first line of three which are widely spaced over about two-thirds of the depth of the tankard, giving it a most attractive appearance. Continual polishing had brought it up to look like burnished gold, and, as it has not a single mark or dent, it is as good as on the day it was made.

In my opinion, it was made in the early days of the nineteenth century when Britannia-metal, containing no lead, had, over a period of fifty years or so since its invention, largely replaced the black metal for drinking vessels - as such metal contained up to forty percent of lead. The spelling of the inscription is interesting, the modern spelling of Deal without the final "E" has been in general use for several centuries, but the engraver might have been expected to consider the old spelling more appropriate to the words "Ye" and "Inne" as its use would have been optional at that time.

As far as one can ascertain, the "Mermaid Inn" stood in the Middle Street/Farrier Street area for about two centuries. Sea-farers are well known for their superstitions and from the earliest times have been attracted to the sign of the "Mermaid" for their inns. Early Tudor and Elizabethan records abound with references to "Mermaid" inns and taverns, and few seaports would be without one. It would, therefore, not be unreasonable to assume that one of the first inns to be named in the new port of Lower Deal would be the "Mermaid."

In 1603, when Queen Elizabeth died, the building of Lower Deal proper had not commenced; but by 1640 a few sporadic groups of buildings had been erected. Another forty years later, in 1680, more than thirty inns are listed, the "Mermaid" being one of them. If we accept that the "Mermaid" sign, being a favourite with mariners, would be an early choice, we can safely date it around the mid-seventeenth century.

The rise of Deal to borough status in the latter half of the seventeenth century was meteoric, but the fall of the port after 1815 can only be described as collapse. The reason for both events are well known. The building of the Tudor castles in 1539 and the subsequent growing importance of the Downs as a naval station in Stuart times - developments which stemmed from continuous turmoil in Europe - established in Deal as a convenient centre for servicing, victualling, and repairing the naval fleets and busy shipping traffic in the Channel, until the end of the Georgian period. Suddenly with Waterloo, the threat of invasion was removed, the bitter conflicts culminating in nearly two-and-a-half decades of war with France were over, and Wellington's victory brought peace to a war-weary nation. By 1837, as a direct result of peace, Deal as a port was becoming largely abandoned, the Naval Yard was becoming inactive, and bankruptcies of marine businesses, tradesmen, and merchants was commonplace. Even the local boat builders and rope-makers were faced with closure. The end of the Georgian era brought great misery and impoverishment to Deal and its people, and through long periods of privation, when hundreds of hungry families contemplated emigration, the town had to find a new role.

Like the port in which it grew, the old "Mermaid" also failed to survive the Georgian era. It rose and fell with the busy port of which it was all of a piece. It was part of another age, where men of action, from Robert Blake and Cloudesley Shovel, to Nelson and Wellington, concerned with the nation's security and defence, strode the quaint streets.

FRANK TURLEY.

From a document held by South West Heritage Trust.

Two messuages called "East India Arms Inn" and the "Mermaid Inn" in Lower Deal, described in 1686 as lately erected, house, stable etc. abutting to Middle Street (Thomas Jackson of Aller, clerk, and wife Elizabeth wid. of Sir Edward Phelips of Montacute, then of Morgan Lodge of Deal, chirgugin, to Edward Barwick of Yeovil, gent.)