Ashburton Bread Weighing & Ale Tasting

Where:	Ashburton, Devon at St Lawrence Chapel on St Lawrence Lane
When:	Saturday in mid to late July
Time:	2pm onwards

The Portreeve and other officials of Ashburton Court Leet are elected each November and one of the arduous tasks they must perform during their term of office is the annual bread-weighing and ale tasting ceremony in July. They visit the alehouses of the town in turn and give a sprig of evergreens to each landlord who supplies satisfactory produce, to display above the door. Loaves are also weighed and tested and certificates given to the bakers. Originally quality control measures such as these were made to ensure that consumers got a fair deal as miscreants who sold poor quality wares or gave short measures could be punished. Today it’s all more lighthearted and the officials form a robed procession through town from their HQ at the chapel , followed by an auction of the loaves.