0:00:02 > 0:00:06This is a series about the hidden histories of Britain's oldest
0:00:06 > 0:00:07family businesses.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Few businesses last beyond two generations.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Against the odds, these families have
0:00:15 > 0:00:19survived in their trades for more than three centuries.
0:00:19 > 0:00:25This is the 188,933rd day of Balson's at work.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32They've come through 50 recessions, the Industrial Revolution,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35two world wars and the rise of Internet shopping.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40- Yeah.- Really, things were very sad after the War. There was no money.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42There was no money anywhere.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46We'll meet the present-day head of each family as they face
0:00:46 > 0:00:49a crossroads in their working life.
0:00:49 > 0:00:50And we'll follow them
0:00:50 > 0:00:53as they go on a journey into the past of their business.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59Jonah Toye. Fantastic! I was very worried about Jonah.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02This time, we tell a tale from the high street.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06The Balsons have been butchers for nearly 500 years...
0:01:07 > 0:01:09..since Henry VIII was on the throne!
0:01:10 > 0:01:15- Hello, Balson's?- Behind the counter today is Richard Balson.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Vicar, doctor! You sort out people's problems.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Usually, if they've got a problem,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23it's cos they're not eating enough meat.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Once a mainstay of every neighbourhood,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27butchers' shops are increasingly rare.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Richard is about to see how his family have kept going.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37"Throat badly cut." Oh, blimey! He cut his throat with a knife!
0:01:40 > 0:01:43This is the history of the local butcher and of the British
0:01:43 > 0:01:47market town, told through the story of a single family business.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04It's a lovely morning, anyway.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Six days a week in Bridport, Dorset, something extraordinary happens.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Richard Balson gets ready to butcher again,
0:02:19 > 0:02:21as his family has done for almost 500 years.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Anything else?
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I know a lot about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
0:02:35 > 0:02:37cos she got beheaded a year after we opened.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43We opened in 1535, and she was beheaded in 1536,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47the same year as Francesco Pizarro founded Peru,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51the same year as Thomas More was executed for treason,
0:02:51 > 0:02:57- the same year as William Tynsdale translated the first...- Tyndale.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Tyndale. See? You know I'm not lying, don't you?
0:03:00 > 0:03:03He translated the first English edition of the Bible.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06- There you are. All in 1535.- It's a hard thing to believe, isn't it?
0:03:06 > 0:03:10The oldest family butcher in England. Is it England or Britain?
0:03:10 > 0:03:11The world!
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Entering Richard Balson's shop is like going back in time.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Butchering traditions, that have died out elsewhere in Britain,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26are kept alive by the Balson family.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Grandmother's recipe, handed down, generation to generation.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Thank you very much indeed. Have a good weekend.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40£4. Thank you. Lovely.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44We've got unusual stuff, like ox cheeks and Bath chaps
0:03:44 > 0:03:46and sweetbreads. This is a Bath chap.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50And this is an old... It's an old-fashioned delicacy.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52This is the cheek of the pig.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53BELL RINGS
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Yes? What would you like, sir?
0:03:55 > 0:04:00- Can I have some... - Diced rabbit?- Yeah. And some...- 9.20.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02This is my father and his mother.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06That's taken in the office in the shop. This was on her 80th birthday.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Alongside the pictures from the past, there's also
0:04:09 > 0:04:14a photo of the Balson Richard hopes will be the future of his shop.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17This is my son, Billy. At the moment, he's in London.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20He's not exactly hands-on, but hopefully, one day, he will be.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23- Are you and your son still close, then?- Oh, yeah.
0:04:23 > 0:04:24I go up there and, you know,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27we speak at least a couple of times a week on the phone.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Richard assumes his butchery business has been
0:04:32 > 0:04:37passed down from father to son for over 20 generations since 1535.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43But he knows very few details about the past of his family.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47This is our present shop that we're in now.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49And this would have been taken at Christmas time.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54A lot of the shops had pictures taken at Christmas with all the family
0:04:54 > 0:04:55and they made a big display.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58We get loads of people coming in the shop and they're saying,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02"Who's this chap? Who's this chap?" And unfortunately,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04we don't know who any of the people are.
0:05:04 > 0:05:05Ho, ho, ho!
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Richard is about to learn all about his family's past.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Names will be put on the faces in his own photos
0:05:15 > 0:05:17and he'll discover what it has been like
0:05:17 > 0:05:19to be a butcher during the last 500 years.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26I'm going to find out where they were in the town
0:05:26 > 0:05:27and what they got up to,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and I expect that there'll be one or two black sheeps along the way,
0:05:30 > 0:05:36cos they can't all be top-notch citizens, like myself! But, yeah.
0:05:36 > 0:05:37I'm looking forward to it.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45The Balsons have been lucky in their location.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Nestling in the hills of the Dorset countryside,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Bridport is a market town of 13,000 people.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Market days have been Wednesdays and Saturdays
0:05:58 > 0:06:01longer than anyone can remember -
0:06:01 > 0:06:03at least since 1278,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07when Edward I gave royal consent for Bridport to hold its markets.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15But even in Bridport, people find it hard to believe that
0:06:15 > 0:06:18the local butcher dates back almost 500 years.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Richard has never seen authenticated proof to back up
0:06:29 > 0:06:33his claim that the Balsons were butchering in 1535,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37so he's retracing the steps of the local historian, who told him
0:06:37 > 0:06:39the Balsons are Britain's oldest butcher.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43It was in about 1982 when we found out that we were England's
0:06:43 > 0:06:49oldest family butcher's, when a chap called Basil Short did a...
0:06:50 > 0:06:53..did a lot of history and delved into the archives
0:06:53 > 0:06:57so we could call ourselves England's oldest family butcher's.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03Basil Short died 10 years ago, but Richard recalls being told
0:07:03 > 0:07:06the evidence could be found in the Dorset County archives.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10That's it there, isn't it? That's what we want, isn't it?
0:07:10 > 0:07:11Dorset History Centre.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Archivist Cassandra Johnson has a document to show Richard.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25It's a rental agreement for what used to be called a shamble,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27which was a stall in the meat market.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33- So it's in Latin.- Yeah.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35And it's quite heavily abbreviated, so obviously
0:07:35 > 0:07:37it won't be easy to read.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42John Balston is renting a market stall in Bridport,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46and it's between the shambles of Andrew Stone on the north side...
0:07:46 > 0:07:49- Yeah.- ..and John Gore on the south side.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- That's quite a good name for a butcher!- Yeah, yeah!
0:07:52 > 0:07:54- Spelling was very inconsistent. - Yeah.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56And obviously, Balston's got the T in it.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Has it got the actual date there, did you say, in the year?
0:08:01 > 0:08:06- It says in the 26th year of the reign of Henry VIII.- Oh, right.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11Henry was crowned in 1509, so the 26th year of his reign
0:08:11 > 0:08:15was 1535, the year Richard believes his business was founded.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20But, before he can heave a sigh of relief,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Cassandra has a surprise for him.
0:08:23 > 0:08:29- This one is actually from the year 1515.- 1515?- Yup.- Bit older.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32It's a good 20 years earlier.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36William Chard and John Orchard, in 1515, indenture,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39and they're the officials of the town.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42They're licensing Robert Balson two market stalls.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47And this is definitely related?
0:08:47 > 0:08:50I think it is very plausible because you're in the same location,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54- and the Roberts do appear quite a lot in the Balson line.- Yeah.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- That's right.- So all those things together make it very plausible
0:08:58 > 0:09:00- that they are related.- Yeah.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05- And this year was 15... - 1515.- 1515. Goodness me!
0:09:07 > 0:09:08Yeah. That's amazing.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14It's a long time, isn't it? 1515.
0:09:18 > 0:09:231515 is going right back to the early years of Henry VIII,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26when the King was still with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
0:09:28 > 0:09:29- Thanks, Cassandra.- Pleasure.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34I'd have been less happy if you said that we weren't quite
0:09:34 > 0:09:38so old as we made out we were, but as it's that way, it's fantastic!
0:09:38 > 0:09:40And it's all been authenticated, hasn't it?
0:09:45 > 0:09:48The first recorded butcher in the Balson family,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Robert of 1515, was a tradesman, like Richard is today.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57The social status of the butcher has changed little over the centuries.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02But Robert Balson worked in a Bridport that was
0:10:02 > 0:10:05very different from today's shop-lined high street.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12500 years ago, British market towns only traded on market days,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15when they became a patchwork of separate marketplaces,
0:10:15 > 0:10:19each exclusively dedicated to anything from haberdashery
0:10:19 > 0:10:20to cooper barrels.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25One of the most important marketplaces sold only meat.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27This was known as the shambles.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32It was in Bridport's shambles that Robert Balson rented
0:10:32 > 0:10:34a stall in 1515.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43How does it feel to learn your business is 20 years older
0:10:43 > 0:10:48- than you thought?- It's good. I phoned my son and he couldn't...
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Well, he thought it was really good, actually.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53It's still in King Henry VIII's reign and it's...
0:10:54 > 0:10:58You know, from all our bags and stuff we got printed,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02it's only just one number to change - 1535 to 1515.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04So that's a bit of luck!
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Now Richard wants to find out where Robert Balson did his butchery.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Should be quite interesting, to see where we used to be.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20He's arranged to meet someone who can point out
0:11:20 > 0:11:23where Bridport's shambles once stood -
0:11:23 > 0:11:26local archaeologist Peter Bellamy.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31- Hello, Peter.- Hello, Richard. - How are you?- How are you? Fine, fine.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33So you want to be about here.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40So the actual shambles, probably the end of them would be about here,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43- roughly on that white line, I think.- Yeah.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45And then they'd be going this way.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47So one stall after another along the streets.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53- Yeah.- Somewhere about there would be the other end of the...
0:11:53 > 0:11:55of the thing.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58So they were really right, right in the middle of the street.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01And can you imagine the chaos with this building stuck in the middle?
0:12:01 > 0:12:05It must have been quite a hustle-bustle, busy place, manic,
0:12:05 > 0:12:06- you know.- Yeah.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11A year ago, maintenance on the gas main beneath Bridport's high street
0:12:11 > 0:12:14accidentally exposed the remains of the shambles.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18We came across two walls, although one of them...
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Only one of them we've managed to expose properly.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24And you can see it in this photograph here,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28- right at the bottom.- Yeah. - Is this the remains of a stone wall?
0:12:28 > 0:12:31That's the wall running along through here.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35And it probably had a series of arches, arcades,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38running along it, where the stalls would be.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42So one of the walls really ran just along here,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45- and the other one was about here. - Yeah.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Richard's shop, on the outskirts of Bridport, is only a five-minute walk
0:12:53 > 0:12:57from where Robert Balson did his butchering,
0:12:57 > 0:12:58right at the centre of town.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04And this map shows that when Bridport was a town of just
0:13:04 > 0:13:081,000 people, there was room in the shambles for 10 butchers.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13That's about one butcher stall for every 20 households.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20There are no working shambles left anywhere in Britain.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25But Richard is determined to get as close as he can to
0:13:25 > 0:13:28the bloody reality of the working life of Robert Balson,
0:13:28 > 0:13:29the founder of his business.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33So he's left Dorset and is heading north.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38His destination is York.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43It is one of Britain's most ancient townscapes,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46at the heart of which still stands the remains of York's shambles.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Richard's guide to the working life of Robert Balson is
0:13:52 > 0:13:55historian of butchery John Chartres.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- Good morning.- Good morning, John. How are you? Nice to meet you.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02- The oldest butcher in Britain! - The oldest, yeah. Do I look it?
0:14:02 > 0:14:06- Not particularly.- No! Thank goodness for that! You said the right thing.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11John begins by explaining that the word shamble just means
0:14:11 > 0:14:12a kind of butcher's block.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19Imagine a sort of six- or eight-foot-long bench
0:14:19 > 0:14:22in which you'd throw the animal.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24You put it onto the bench to cut.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26But if you imagine it, in them days, I mean,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29there would have been just meat hung everywhere, wouldn't it?
0:14:29 > 0:14:31You probably had a job to walk down through
0:14:31 > 0:14:33without sort of bumping into a carcass, I should think!
0:14:33 > 0:14:35A lot of noise as well.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39You will have people presumably shouting abuse at each other
0:14:39 > 0:14:41and saying, "I don't think much of that, Jim!"
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Do you think they have any special rules and regulations?
0:14:44 > 0:14:48There's virtually no health regulations.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53But on the whole, you know, you're not going to have, you know,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- I suppose, cold stores full of meat that might go off.- No.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58It's in, bang, eat, out!
0:15:00 > 0:15:04500 years ago, there was no way to chill meat to prevent it rotting,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07so meat couldn't be transported or stored.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Instead, on market days, butchers herded live animals
0:15:11 > 0:15:15into the shambles and killed them on the spot, almost to order.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21It was so messy, the word shambles has since come to mean chaos
0:15:21 > 0:15:22and disorder.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28The shambles, historically, would have been where you actually
0:15:28 > 0:15:32did the killing, hence, the advantages of a sloping site.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35- Yeah, yeah. To wash all the muck away?- Wash it down.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40I'm not quite sure how quickly the cattle pick up
0:15:40 > 0:15:43- the sense of what's happening.- Yeah.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45- But they'll smell blood fairly early, won't they?- Yeah, yeah.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47And that spooks them.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52So the shambles is manure, it's animal noises,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56it's screams and squeaks.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58- Really, it must have been one hell of a smell!- Yeah.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I don't mind a bit of mess, never have done.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16You've got to be able to get your hands dirty.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19It's a life which I, personally, would have loved
0:16:19 > 0:16:23because it was a busy, hectic lifestyle,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26lots of interaction with people and animals coming to and fro,
0:16:26 > 0:16:30customers coming to and fro and live ones in, dead ones out.
0:16:31 > 0:16:32It was amazing.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43For centuries after 1515, the Balson name appears
0:16:43 > 0:16:47consistently in the records of those who rented a shamble in Bridport.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52It was a period in which the craft of butchery barely changed.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58In the mid-1600s, the Balsons survived the Civil War.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01A Thomas Balston fought with Bridport's Parliamentarians.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07They survived the Plague, which visited Bridport repeatedly
0:17:07 > 0:17:08until the late 1600s.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15The Balsons kept their place in the shambles for 250 years.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18They probably weren't the only butchers with an ancient lineage,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22but somehow they passed on their craft for over 10 generations.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32These days, it's rare to find a family where the children
0:17:32 > 0:17:35follow their parents for more than a couple of generations.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40I always knew I was going to be a butcher
0:17:40 > 0:17:42and it's what Dad wanted, I guess, you know.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43He never said to me,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46"Oh, you've got to be a butcher and you've got to follow me."
0:17:46 > 0:17:50Not at all, but, I mean, it was just an opportunity of a lifestyle
0:17:50 > 0:17:52that I wanted, I guess, you know.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58That's lovely.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Looks like you've been doing this almost without thinking, Richard.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08I learnt all of my trade through watching my father, really,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10and just copying him
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and with his guidance sort of overlooking you at first.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15When did you cut up your first lamb?
0:18:15 > 0:18:20- Oh, I don't know. 16, 17, I suppose. - Was he a stern teacher, your father?
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Yeah, he was a tough teacher, but it's better to be like that
0:18:23 > 0:18:26than having someone who doesn't really care.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31You know, there's only one way, and that's the right way.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36Richard's father, Don, died aged 88 in 2011.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Jane, his sister, now looks after their widowed mum, Joan.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45There we are.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49A former Miss Bridport, Joan met Don at a dance in 1945,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52just after he'd come home from the Second World War.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Oh, he was very handsome!
0:18:57 > 0:19:03Very handsome and, of course, I realised they had the butcher shop.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07My dad used to go out every weekend and buy the joint from there.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11We got married and I went to live up over the shop.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14When Joan moved into Don's shop,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Britain was on its knees after five years of conflict.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Meat was still rationed.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Each adult was allowed just over a pound a week,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26about a third of what we consume today.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31He had a hard time, like I said, with all the rationing and that.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35You'd get some lady come in and said, "Oh, Mr Balson,
0:19:35 > 0:19:40"can't you let me have a bit more?" He said, "Well, I know what.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44"I can get you some tripe," cos that weren't rationed.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47They had to clean it, which wasn't very pleasant.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51That wasn't very pleasant but, I mean... But it was lovely.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Beautiful.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Having got through the War and rationing,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Don is now held up as an example in the Balson family.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02He showed what it takes to keep the business going.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07It's hard work, dedication, and you've got to do it.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11If you don't do it, then it's gone, because so many butchers have gone.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17- That's the trouble now.- Richard's doing really... You know, really...
0:20:17 > 0:20:22Really, really well. I think he really enjoys working in the shop.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25He's very passionate about keeping it, you know, going.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Richard is trying to secure the future of the Balson legacy
0:20:29 > 0:20:33by passing on what his father taught him to his only child, Billy.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40He knows how to do all this... sort of cutting up.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42This is just basic butchery, really.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47But, having completed basic butchery,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Billy also trained as an accountant.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52He's got a very good job in London, but hopefully
0:20:52 > 0:20:54he will come back, he wants to come back.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56He doesn't want to stay there all his life,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01but at the moment he's got a very nice lifestyle and a very good job.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06- And how old is he?- He is 33.
0:21:06 > 0:21:07I don't know how...
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Whether Billy will ever... you know, Richard's son,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12will come and learn the trade.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16There's nothing to say he won't later on. He may well do later on.
0:21:16 > 0:21:22- What will it feel like to you if Balson's didn't carry on?- Devastated!
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean...
0:21:27 > 0:21:28It would be awful.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36For the moment, Richard is putting aside any concerns about the future.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40He's returning to his exploration of the Balson's past.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43And there's a crucial question on his mind.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45How did the Balsons get from a shamble
0:21:45 > 0:21:47into the shop which Richard has today?
0:21:50 > 0:21:53He's in the nearby city of Bath to find out what happened to
0:21:53 > 0:21:54Bridport's shambles.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57He's meeting historian Peter Borsay,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01an expert on town life in 18th-century Britain.
0:22:01 > 0:22:02Hello, Peter.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06- The big word in 18th-century towns is improvement.- Yeah.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Improve the environment of the town.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Towns saw themselves as civilised places.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16And there's a sort of revolution going on in the later 17th
0:22:16 > 0:22:21and 18th century, by which towns are remodelling themselves
0:22:21 > 0:22:26and trying to become more civilised, and particularly they're adopting
0:22:26 > 0:22:30a building revolution which is going on, which is classicism.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Peter has asked Richard to meet him in Bath because here you can
0:22:36 > 0:22:39still see how the classical revolution affected
0:22:39 > 0:22:41the working lives of butchers.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44But you've got to remember,
0:22:44 > 0:22:49Bath is one of the most elegant towns of the 18th century.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51And what was happening, Bath was dramatic.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55Virtually where we're standing, there'd been markets there.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59And the butchers had operated from this open streetside.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Now, you, as a butcher, would have been in the worst trade
0:23:02 > 0:23:07because you're slaughtering animals, you had the meat on show.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11So they move the butchers from here,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15they take them out of the street and they build a brand-new guildhall
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and sort of extend the market area behind it.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22The butchers were just the first to be moved off the street.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25By the 1770s, all of Bath's market traders
0:23:25 > 0:23:27were hidden away in the guildhall.
0:23:29 > 0:23:30In the following decades,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33the classical revolution spread towards Bridport.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Towns like to compete with each other.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40And there were other towns in Dorset which were also getting rid
0:23:40 > 0:23:44- of their shambles.- Yeah. - And they'd all been demolished.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47And the butchers were moved behind the line of the street.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52The Bridport shambles were demolished in 1786
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and a new town hall was built at the side of the high street.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00Upstairs was an elegant room where the town council met.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02On the ground floor was a closed market,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05given over exclusively to butchery.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09The town hall's market was smaller than the shambles,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12but some of the butchers from the shambles were able to carry on
0:24:12 > 0:24:16their trade here, hidden behind the elegant classical facade.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20So Bridport's just doing what your other towns...
0:24:20 > 0:24:21What everyone else was doing.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24In Bridport, you know, they were right in the middle of the town,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26bang in the middle of the road, and they were...
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Like you say, they were in the way and they wanted to tidy up a bit.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32- And, in a way, it didn't really matter what the butchers felt.- No.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37You know, they were expendable. They simply had to be moved.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39Whether any butchers protested this drastic change
0:24:39 > 0:24:42to their working lives isn't known.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44But by the mid 19th century
0:24:44 > 0:24:47there were no traditional shambles left anywhere in Britain.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50It is something that had to be done, obviously.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54You can't have people bringing animals in, leading them in on a rope
0:24:54 > 0:24:57to be slaughtered in the middle of town for all to see, you know.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00It's all for the best, really, and there was no...
0:25:00 > 0:25:04They couldn't argue about it. They just had to be moved, really.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12These days, the business is based on the outskirts of Bridport,
0:25:12 > 0:25:13just beyond the River Brit.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Richard is heading back into the centre of town.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24He wants to find out if his ancestors were among those butchers
0:25:24 > 0:25:28who carried on in the town hall after the shambles were demolished.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33It's a bit of a grey area, where they sort of moved to.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36That's the in-between times, which I don't know a lot about.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Even today, there is still a butcher in Bridport's town hall,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Richard's friend, Phil Frampton.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50- Morning, Richard.- Morning, Phil. How are you?- Very well, thank you, sir.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54- Nice to see you.- Nice to see you. - We're not rivals, are we?- No!
0:25:54 > 0:25:57We help each other out if we can. That's what it's all about.
0:25:57 > 0:25:58We're in a different thing.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01- Obviously, Richard, being over the bridge...- Yeah, over the bridge.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Yeah. Sounds like a troll, doesn't he?
0:26:04 > 0:26:06We've got, um...we've got, you know,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10our footfall is a lot more here because we're in the centre of town.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12But if somebody comes in here and Phil hasn't got it,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16I might have it, he'll send them down to me and vice versa.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18I mean, you've got to work together in business.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Phil Frampton is the first in his family to be a butcher.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25But he knows about the history of the Balsons.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I know they started up here in 1515.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Which is 500 years ago, in the old shambles.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35- And you know that they were in here? - They were in here at some time, yeah.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Yeah. You've seen this?
0:26:39 > 0:26:41That's the town hall...
0:26:41 > 0:26:44- That's the layout.- When they moved in here was 1780s or summat, was it?
0:26:44 > 0:26:48- Er...yeah, it was 1780 something. - 17-summat, wasn't it?
0:26:48 > 0:26:50I'll get this down for you.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Let's have a look at that. Let's get me goggles on.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57So that gives out all the individual stores.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00This is the front of the shop here, one, two, three,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03- hence these three windows. - Right, right.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08This 200-year-old plan reveals that where Frampton's butchers now stands
0:27:08 > 0:27:11there used to be over 30 little butchers' stalls.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16An undated document found in the archives lists the butchers
0:27:16 > 0:27:18who rented these stalls.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22At Number 11, there is A Balson.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30On Richard's family tree, the only A Balson is Arthur.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34He was born in 1820,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37just a generation after the town hall was built.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41- This one here...- Right.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46- ..which is that...wooden block there.- Yeah.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49The bookcase, that's where his stall was.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52- It's amazing, isn't it?- Yeah. Yeah.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55So if we turn the clock back, we'd better start work. Yeah.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57- LAUGHTER - Now.- Now!
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Here, Arthur Balson slaughtered animals, carved up carcasses
0:28:03 > 0:28:05and sold his meat.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09It was cramped, but the Balsons were still at the centre of Bridport.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30In the mid 19th century, when Arthur took on his stall in the town hall,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33the Balsons had been in business for over 300 years.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37It was now the Victorian age.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41A society built on the two pillars of trade and respectability.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45And the Balsons' story was about to take a dramatic turn.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53The family tree reveals that since way back,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55in the era of the Shambles,
0:28:55 > 0:28:59the Balsons had passed on their business from father to son.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Arthur broke that ancient tradition
0:29:02 > 0:29:06and very nearly ended the Balson family business.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15Arthur is buried somewhere in the graveyard opposite Richard's shop.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24Although many graves are neglected and forgotten, the local vicar,
0:29:24 > 0:29:26Reverend Peter Edwards,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29has some information about the Balsons buried here.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33He's even read a newspaper report about Arthur.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36So these two graves here are both members of the family.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Sadly, this stone has fallen over at some stage...
0:29:39 > 0:29:42- Yes, that's the back of it, I guess. - ..in the last decade or two,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45but there is some writing we've deciphered
0:29:45 > 0:29:47from records from the underside.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50- We're here to talk about Arthur Balson.- Arthur, yeah.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53- Who was a distant uncle of sorts. - Yeah, that's right.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57- Who died in July of 1859.- Right.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00And the funeral service was held in early August of that year.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03- The burial was done on a Sunday morning here.- On a Sunday morning?
0:30:03 > 0:30:05- That's quite interesting, yeah. - Yeah.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09Well, that's probably because they were working on all the other days.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Quite possibly. About 100 fellow tradespeople of the town
0:30:12 > 0:30:14came to support the family
0:30:14 > 0:30:17and to be in attendance at the funeral.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23The huge crowd of mourners suggests Arthur was a popular figure.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26But some may have come to gawp at the climax of a scandal.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Arthur, um...was living with...
0:30:31 > 0:30:34And it must have caused something of a scandal at the time,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37a woman who was actually married to somebody else.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40- Right.- So in the standards of the Victorian age...
0:30:40 > 0:30:43- That's not good, is it?- It must have caused something of a local scandal.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45Her name was Charlotte Worsdell.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49And her husband was away
0:30:49 > 0:30:54and Charlotte was living with Arthur, together with her son, Tom.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57And obviously, Arthur took to Tom,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01as well as being in a relationship with Charlotte.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06The paper reports that Arthur treated Tom like his own son,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09digging deep into his pockets so Tom could have a good education.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Very likely, Arthur was thinking of handing the family business on
0:31:14 > 0:31:18to the child of his lover, so ending the Balson tradition.
0:31:21 > 0:31:22Then something terrible happened.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28Arthur used to play sort of fights and what have you,
0:31:28 > 0:31:32including which, he used to pretend that Tom had got a gun
0:31:32 > 0:31:37and he would play dead when Tom fired this gun at him.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41Sadly, one day at the end of July in 1859,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44Tom came back from school one day,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47found a gun which had been loaded,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50not known to him,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53and pretended to shoot Arthur.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56And sadly, it went off and he was killed instantly,
0:31:56 > 0:31:58there and then, on the spot,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01which caused obviously a great consternation
0:32:01 > 0:32:05and upset to the people of the town and all those who knew him...
0:32:05 > 0:32:10- So, how old was Arthur?- He was...39, I think, if I recall.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15- Something of that sort of... 38, 39, that sort of age.- Right.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Obviously, Tom might have inherited the business.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20- You don't know, do you?- Then it would've been a different story.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Well, perhaps it was an act of God.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24LAUGHTER
0:32:26 > 0:32:29Whether young Tom Worsdell attended the funeral
0:32:29 > 0:32:32of the man he'd killed is not recorded.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34And his name disappears from the local records after that.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40It's known that he died in London, aged 26.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43His lover's son was out of the picture,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46but Arthur's sudden death meant that in 1859
0:32:46 > 0:32:50the Balson business couldn't carry on father to son.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Luckily, someone else in the family came forward
0:32:54 > 0:32:56to keep the Balson tradition going.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Arthur's younger brother, Richard.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04This Victorian Richard Balson is the great-great-grandfather
0:33:04 > 0:33:06of Richard, who runs the shop today.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Oh!
0:33:26 > 0:33:28Whoo!
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Do you reckon we can turn that around and lay it the other way?
0:33:41 > 0:33:44There, there. Now you can see it. There's Arthur.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Died 1859, aged 39. Poor man.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54What a shock that must have been.
0:34:11 > 0:34:12Afternoon.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24In 1859, when Arthur Balson died and the business was carried on
0:34:24 > 0:34:27by his brother Richard, Britain was the richest country in the world.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Meat consumption was rising dramatically.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37Those who could afford to ate meat at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39There was also a population boom.
0:34:39 > 0:34:44In two generations, Bridport had grown from 3,000 to 4,500 people.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49But the butchers renting stalls in the town hall
0:34:49 > 0:34:53complained that the limited space here prevented expansion.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58And that they were still only allowed to open on market days,
0:34:58 > 0:34:59which were Wednesday and Saturday.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06The Victorian Richard Balson, who'd taken over from scandalous Arthur,
0:35:06 > 0:35:08found a way to carry on butchering
0:35:08 > 0:35:10despite the restrictions in the town hall.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18The 1871 census reveals that 12 years after Arthur's death
0:35:18 > 0:35:21his brother Richard was increasing his income,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24doubling up as a pub landlord at the Boot Inn.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32Now a house, the Boot Inn was in a residential area of Bridport,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34near where Richard's shop is today.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Many of Victorian Bridport's publicans already had second trades.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45There were pubs which sold leather goods, others that baked bread.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49At some pubs, you could buy meat alongside the beer,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52prepared in a slaughterhouse behind the bar.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57But what a publican butcher like the Victorian Richard Balson
0:35:57 > 0:36:00really needed was to have his own shop.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04A technological breakthrough
0:36:04 > 0:36:08paved the way for the late-Victorian butcher's shop.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10Come down and see the big fridge.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18It's a good-sized fridge, where you can come in and...
0:36:18 > 0:36:21It's nice to have plenty of racks for hanging all your sausages
0:36:21 > 0:36:25and bodies of beef, lamb and pork.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Along with steam power,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30refrigeration was one of the earth-shattering inventions
0:36:30 > 0:36:33of the 19th century's Industrial Revolution.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36It made it possible to store perishable foods.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40Sweet chilli, merguez, smoky pork.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42That's a rump of beef, there.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46That's the darkness of that. That's been hung for three weeks.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49In the shambles and even in the town hall,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51butchers had killed animals almost to order.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56Refrigeration made it possible to keep plentiful stocks
0:36:56 > 0:36:59of all the cuts the customers might want.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02This broke the link between selling meat and killing animals.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07Soon, the slaughtering and preparation took place
0:37:07 > 0:37:10a healthy distance away from the high street.
0:37:10 > 0:37:11While in the centre of town
0:37:11 > 0:37:15the butchers could sell their meat like any other shopkeeper.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18A couple of loins of pork.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24In the late 19th century, as a direct result of refrigeration,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27butchers reappeared on the British high street.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31This is when the Balsons moved into their shop.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Most likely, thanks to their first fridge.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44Moving into a shop was a crucial moment in the story of the Balsons.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47PHONE RINGS
0:37:47 > 0:37:48Good morning. Balson's.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51But which member of the family founded his shop
0:37:51 > 0:37:53at 9 West Allington is a mystery to Richard.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57It was initially called RJ & W Balson.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59There's a photo showing the shop
0:37:59 > 0:38:02trading under this name in about 1890.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06But the people in the photo are unidentified.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11And a second photo adds to the mystery.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15It suggests there was another business called Balson & Sons,
0:38:15 > 0:38:17which was once based next door at Number 7.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25To help him work out which Balson was the father of his shop,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Richard is meeting local historian Richard Sims.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31- Hello, Richard.- Nice to see you. - Nice to see you again.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35I believe this to be when they came into this shop, this is this shop,
0:38:35 > 0:38:40and this is just prior to that, when they were next door, or...
0:38:40 > 0:38:41What's your source of information?
0:38:41 > 0:38:45The Book of Balson Facts, handed down from my father,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49which may not be exactly right, but pretty near right.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53We don't know who any of the people are. I don't know. Maybe you, er...
0:38:53 > 0:38:56I...I've, um...spent some time in the Record Office
0:38:56 > 0:38:59- in Dorchester looking through the rates records of Bridport.- Yeah.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02Over the period of 1880 through to 1895.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05- I've got a bit of paper here to help you.- Oh, right, right, right.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10I've just got the rumps to cut, all right?
0:39:11 > 0:39:15From Bridport's rates records, Richard Sims has tried to work out
0:39:15 > 0:39:17which member of the family started the shop.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23The story begins next door at Number 7 with Balson & Sons.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27To reveal the order of events,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Richard Sims has transcribed some of his research.
0:39:30 > 0:39:331st April, 1887.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37Balson & Sons rented Number 7 from John Hoare,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41who had the whole of the alleyway going backwards.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44And we see here, in 1892,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48they vacated Number 7 before moving to next door
0:39:48 > 0:39:51to form what was to become RJ & W Balson.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53- Yeah. So it was 1892.- Yeah.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57So this shop will date probably from 1892, within six months of that.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02- Yeah.- Whereas the other shop was almost certainly early 1887.- Yeah.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Comparing the dates from the rates records
0:40:05 > 0:40:07against the Balson family tree
0:40:07 > 0:40:11makes it possible to deduce which family members
0:40:11 > 0:40:12were behind each shop.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18In 1887, when Balson & Sons was founded,
0:40:18 > 0:40:20the Victorian Richard Balson,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23who had doubled up as a landlord of the Boot, was still alive.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28If we look at this photograph, this is the earlier one...
0:40:28 > 0:40:31- That's right.- ..there's Balson & Sons at the top here.
0:40:31 > 0:40:37We can now say that that has to be the Richard Balson from the Boot.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43Richard of the Boot died in 1890, survived by three sons.
0:40:46 > 0:40:47It was the eldest, Robert John,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50in partnership with the youngest brother, William,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53who carried on their father's butchery business.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Because the family had only rented at Number 7, the brothers
0:40:59 > 0:41:01Robert John and William, moved next door.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03They owned Number 9.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06The Balsons were on the up.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10So the other photograph is now RJ & W Balson,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14so we must be looking at, I imagine, maybe Robert John
0:41:14 > 0:41:16and William as the two main characters here.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20Fascinating. Thank you.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24But the family tree leads to a deeper mystery.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Richard, who runs the shop today,
0:41:27 > 0:41:31is descended from neither Robert John nor William.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36His great-grandfather is the middle brother, Richard John.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Richard John, who actually lived here, was a stonemason.
0:41:40 > 0:41:46He was here until about the 1890s, before moving to Neath.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51Are you disappointed to discover you're not
0:41:51 > 0:41:55- descended from the two brothers who founded your shop?- No, not at all.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58I mean, it's...it's, er...it's still in the family, that's the main thing.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02I mean, um...er...you know, people go off and do other things.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Um...yeah, that's just how it is.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Richard John Balson, seen here in this photo,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15spent most of the rest of his life in Neath, Wales.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21He enjoyed a profitable career there as a stonemason
0:42:21 > 0:42:23and never joined the family business.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28But somehow the Balson butcher's shop has ended up
0:42:28 > 0:42:31in the hands of the descendant of Richard John the stonemason.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Richard's great-great-uncles Robert John and William
0:42:40 > 0:42:42moved into a shop at just the right moment.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46The start of the 20th century is now seen as
0:42:46 > 0:42:49the golden age of the British high street.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Where the Balsons are, on the outskirts of Bridport,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58was then a parade of shops, where people could buy everything
0:42:58 > 0:43:01they wanted without leaving their immediate neighbourhood.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Almost nothing is known about the working life of Richard's
0:43:06 > 0:43:09great-great-uncles Robert John and William.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12All that's been turned up is a local newspaper cutting
0:43:12 > 0:43:13from about 100 years ago.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19"Guessing Competition. On Wednesday week,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22"Messrs Balson Brothers Butchers of West Allington
0:43:22 > 0:43:24"exhibited in their shop the carcass of a bullock,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27"which they supplied at Messrs W Morey & Sons'
0:43:27 > 0:43:30"Christmas fat stock show and sale
0:43:30 > 0:43:33"for a weight-guessing competition.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35"On a card, the actual weight of the animal
0:43:35 > 0:43:37"was given at 39 stone 1l pounds.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39"The winners were,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42"first prize, two pound, two shillings
0:43:42 > 0:43:45"to Miss C Balson of West Allington."
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Sounds like a fix to me!
0:44:01 > 0:44:05Discovering that the Balson shop was founded by his great-great-uncles
0:44:05 > 0:44:07leads Richard to a further question.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10How did the shop end up in his hands?
0:44:13 > 0:44:15- All right?- All right? - Yeah. How you doing?
0:44:15 > 0:44:18He knows the answer must lie in the story of the Balson
0:44:18 > 0:44:22who came after his great-great-uncles, his grandfather,
0:44:22 > 0:44:24known in the family as Pop.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29This is my grandfather in 1920
0:44:29 > 0:44:32delivering the meat on the horse and cart.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36I can just about remember my grandfather sat in a chair.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38I was only about four when he died.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42But we get old customers come in
0:44:42 > 0:44:46and they remember, um...remember him in the shop
0:44:46 > 0:44:49and there used to be a pub just along the road called the Old Inn,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51about 60 yards.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54And he'd go out to the Old Inn and have a pint.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Pop was the son of the Balson who became a stonemason
0:44:59 > 0:45:00and went to live in Wales.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05As a boy, Pop didn't go to Wales with his father,
0:45:05 > 0:45:07but stayed in Bridport.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12The 1901 census reveals that Pop, then aged 10,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15was living above the Balson shop with his uncle Robert John,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18who was unmarried and had no children of his own.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23This would have been seen as normal in those days.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25Being brought up by his uncle Robert John,
0:45:25 > 0:45:29Pop had the opportunity to learn the craft of butchery.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36Then, in 1927, Pop's other uncle, William Balson, died.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39He was survived by just one daughter.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42And women butchers were almost unheard of in the 1920s.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49Robert John was still unmarried and childless and aged almost 70.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54To keep the shop in the Balson family,
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Robert John decided that Pop,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59the nephew he'd brought up, should take it on.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03But Robert John didn't deal with Pop as if he were his son.
0:46:03 > 0:46:04As Richard has just found out.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09This is some old documents that have come out of the safe,
0:46:09 > 0:46:13- which relate to...- Under the stairs. - Under the stairs, yeah.
0:46:13 > 0:46:18Which relate to when Robert John, in about 1928,
0:46:18 > 0:46:24decided to sell the business to, um...to Pop.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26Um...for a sum of £1,000.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29Pop didn't have any money.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32So he borrowed it off of his...
0:46:32 > 0:46:37wife's brother, who was a Bill Spencer.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41The £1,000 was for the property and fixtures,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44fittings and good will of the business.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52£1,000 in 1928 is £50,000 in today's money.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57He must have been very grateful to Bill Spencer
0:46:57 > 0:46:59for lending him that £1,000.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01Because obviously, without that, he couldn't have...
0:47:01 > 0:47:04You know, if he hadn't have lent him that money,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07who knows what would've happened to the business?
0:47:09 > 0:47:12The deal between Pop and Robert John wasn't unusual
0:47:12 > 0:47:14and there's no evidence of any awkwardness
0:47:14 > 0:47:16between nephew and uncle.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20It took Pop just four years to pay off the loan,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23presumably using the profits of the shop.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26And Robert John wouldn't be dependent on his nephew,
0:47:26 > 0:47:30because he now had money to fund the care he'd need in his retirement.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40Then Robert John seems to have been written out of the Balson story.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42Until a few days ago,
0:47:42 > 0:47:46Richard had never even heard of the family member who founded his shop.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51To find out more about his great-great-uncle,
0:47:51 > 0:47:53he's going to look through some old newspapers.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59He wants to see if he can find any reference to Robert John Balson.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03Right, here we go.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08"An inquest held at Bridport on Wednesday evening
0:48:08 > 0:48:10"on Mr Robert John Balson, aged 70.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14"He retired only a year or two ago and was unmarried.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17"Who was discovered in the washhouse,
0:48:17 > 0:48:21"lying across a heap of coal with his throat badly cut."
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Throat badly cut? Oh, blimey!
0:48:24 > 0:48:29"Mr Balson was alive when the doctor arrived hurriedly on the scene,
0:48:29 > 0:48:31"but died about half an hour later.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34"A verdict of 'suicide whilst of unsound mind'
0:48:34 > 0:48:38"was recorded by the deputy coroner for West Dorset."
0:48:38 > 0:48:40He cut his throat with a knife.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48Well, it said he was retired. I wonder if, being retired, he just...
0:48:48 > 0:48:51Some people, they just can't cope with being retired.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56Sometimes there's a void there which was taken up by work previously,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00and when you retire, if you completely shut yourself off,
0:49:00 > 0:49:02then you can become, um...
0:49:02 > 0:49:06you know, a bit lonely, a bit reclusive, a bit, um...
0:49:06 > 0:49:09You know, you'd think with the Balsons being, you know,
0:49:09 > 0:49:11all this family-orientated,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14where they hand it on from one generation to the next,
0:49:14 > 0:49:16that he could've carried on there as long as he wanted to.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19Just gone in maybe one day a week, two days a week.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23My father, he was still doing the books at 88, 87.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27You know, um... And he always kept his hand in.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29I didn't just work with my father.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32We went to football matches together, we played skittles together,
0:49:32 > 0:49:37we went to the pub and had a pint together. I go out with my son now.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40You know, it's nice. I don't see as much of him as I'd like to,
0:49:40 > 0:49:44but, er...yeah, it's lovely,
0:49:44 > 0:49:46I think, the father and son relationship,
0:49:46 > 0:49:50it doesn't matter how old they are, they're your son all your life.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54And you still sort of worry about them and care for them
0:49:54 > 0:49:57and love them and that's what being a father is, really.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03But unfortunately, he didn't have any children, did he? So...
0:50:03 > 0:50:06He might've missed out there, but...
0:50:07 > 0:50:09I don't know.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13According to the local newspaper, the townsfolk of Bridport
0:50:13 > 0:50:17paid their respects at the funeral of Robert John Balson.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Among the mourners was his nephew, Pop,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23who left a floral tribute which read, "In loving memory."
0:50:48 > 0:50:51A few days after finding out all about Robert John
0:50:51 > 0:50:55and his nephew, Pop, Richard welcomes his own nephew.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00This is our new 1515 shirts that we've just had done
0:51:00 > 0:51:04since we found out we were established 20 years earlier.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08So that's for you. And a nice RJ Balson & Son hat.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11- Put them on and I'm going to put you to work for five minutes.- Right.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Oliver Balson is the only son of Richard's only brother, Michael.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18Instead of joining the family business,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21Michael became a professional footballer.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24His career took him to America and he settled there.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33I've worked it out, this is the 188,933rd day
0:51:33 > 0:51:37of Balson's at work since 1515.
0:51:43 > 0:51:48Straight down the middle, kidney each side. Nice and straight.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50There it is.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54The last time that happened was, um...15 years ago.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57- 15 years ago?- Yep. By this man right here.- Yeah.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59And I was seven, eight years old.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02I have kind of memories of being in the shop.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07- Hello! - They're trying to put me to work.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15LAUGHTER
0:52:15 > 0:52:19Oliver is in Bridport to visit his English family.
0:52:19 > 0:52:20He's also here on business.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25It's hard to get butchery out of the Balson blood.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28And Oliver sells sausages online in America.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32Oliver's business is completely separate from Richard's shop,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34which does no online trading.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38But Richard advises Oliver with sausage recipes
0:52:38 > 0:52:40and encourages him to trade on the Balson heritage.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44It's almost unbelievable, you know,
0:52:44 > 0:52:49when you say 1500s and America is only half that old.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51I think most people are fairly sceptical. They're like, "Hm."
0:52:51 > 0:52:56You know, it's almost like it's such a grandiose claim
0:52:56 > 0:53:01that there's instant scepticism to how could it possibly be that old?
0:53:01 > 0:53:03Filling out paperwork for the USDA
0:53:03 > 0:53:06and they ask, like, "How old is your business?"
0:53:06 > 0:53:10And sometimes I'm just cheeky and I say, "498 years."
0:53:10 > 0:53:14And then every single time I do that, they say,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17"There's some kind of typo. There's some mistake."
0:53:19 > 0:53:22Oliver used to have a career as an academic,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26running the online sausage business in his spare time.
0:53:26 > 0:53:28He's now given up his university post
0:53:28 > 0:53:31to concentrate on selling meat fulltime.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35So for Oliver it's important to keep faith that there will
0:53:35 > 0:53:38always be a Balson butcher in Bridport.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40None of us know what the future holds,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44but...I think it's a pretty good chance you'll find
0:53:44 > 0:53:46a butcher's shop at this location with the Balson name on it.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48I'd bet the farm on it.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55The Balson shop has done well to survive as long as it has.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59Because the late 20th century was difficult for butchers.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05Pop, Richard's grandfather, died in 1961
0:54:05 > 0:54:08and the business was passed on to his son, Don.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12In the '60s, Don, Richard's father,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15enjoyed the final great age of the neighbourhood butcher.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Towards the end of the 20th century, shopping habits changed.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24The number of butchers' shops in Britain
0:54:24 > 0:54:27fell from about 50,000 to less than 10,000.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31Many high streets and market towns completely lost their butchers.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38But the Balsons were still going strong when Don died in 2011.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51Richard has come to Bridport's beach at 6:00am
0:54:51 > 0:54:53to share some memories of his father.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Don Balson used to come here every day for a quick dip
0:54:58 > 0:55:00before he opened the shop.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05I'm very lucky to have spent 40 years sort of working with him
0:55:05 > 0:55:07and he's taught me all I know and, er...
0:55:07 > 0:55:11When he died, obviously, it was really difficult to go into work
0:55:11 > 0:55:13and him not be there, sort of thing.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15And, er...a chap came in one day and he said,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18"What's the matter with you, Richard? You don't look yourself."
0:55:18 > 0:55:21And I said, "Oh, Father has just died,"
0:55:21 > 0:55:23and he said, "Sorry to hear that."
0:55:23 > 0:55:26I said, "It's very difficult after, you know,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28"spending every day of your life working with him
0:55:28 > 0:55:30"and then all of a sudden he's gone."
0:55:30 > 0:55:33And the chap, he put it into perspective, really.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36He said, "Well, you think of all the good times you've had," he said.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41"Because my father died when I was only sort of 14, 15.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43"And I never even had the experience or the memory
0:55:43 > 0:55:46"to even have a pint in a pub with him."
0:55:46 > 0:55:48And, I mean, that put it into perspective, really.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50And you think, yeah, I have been lucky.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53And, you know, you think of the good times
0:55:53 > 0:55:56and the happy memories you've got and, um...
0:55:56 > 0:55:59and after he said that little sentence, you know,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02it made me feel a bit better, really.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15- 11 slices of ham.- 11 of ham. Right. Let's kick off with that, then.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17Right. OK.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19- How's the missus? - Very well, thank you, Richard.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21All right, thanks very much.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24- Have a good weekend.- Thanks.- Bye.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30God save the Queen.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37There we are, another day done.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50Richard has now completed his journey into the past of his family.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53He's learnt that staying in business for 500 years
0:56:53 > 0:56:56has been a constant struggle for the Balsons.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00They've kept going despite revolutionary social change
0:57:00 > 0:57:02and personal tragedy.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08How has learning about previous generations
0:57:08 > 0:57:10who've faced crises and survived them
0:57:10 > 0:57:14altered the way he sees the future of his family business?
0:57:15 > 0:57:17My father went on until he was 88,
0:57:17 > 0:57:21so I've got another 30...33 years, sort of thing.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24So, I mean, a lot can happen in 33 years.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28We can miss a generation and maybe the next generation will take hold.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30You know, who knows?
0:57:30 > 0:57:34We've survived suicides and being blown off with a shotgun, you know.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36The main thing is that we're still here
0:57:36 > 0:57:40and we're still making a living and we're still enjoying what we do.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43And, um...you know, and long may it continue.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55- PHONE:- 'And two packets of chipolatas. Thank you. Bye.'
0:57:57 > 0:57:59That's the first order of the day.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02Next time, we meet the Toyes,
0:58:02 > 0:58:05who've been making regalia since the 1700s.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07This is an OBE, which is something
0:58:07 > 0:58:10I think we're very well known for doing.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13Toyes is a traditional firm in a modern world.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Can its rich history help it flourish?
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Absolutely magical.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23Discover the secrets of successful, resilient enterprises
0:58:23 > 0:58:25and the latest insights from business history.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29Go to bbc.co.uk/hiddenhistories
0:58:29 > 0:58:32and follow the links to the Open University.