John Foster was not the first prelate to have found a
monument in profligacy

As the firm of Charlotte Ward & Son drew to a close,
Ward & Son and its heir, David Ward, came of age
together. Fittingly, the celebrations that marked, in effect,
the commercial birth of the business and David’s 21st
birthday in 1880 were held inside the first purpose-built
brewery. This spartan building at the rear of The Lion
beerhouse was constructed by relatives of his mother, -
Mortlock’s of Cavendish. The builder of choice, they carried
out all additional work on the brewery’s expansion, well
into the 1940s.

 The size of a large barn, the wooden louvered brewery
housed two fermentation tanks, storage space, a brewing
copper which could hold up to 60 barrels of liquor and a
crude refrigeration unit which enabled beer to be made
throughout the year.  

The copper was an expensive steam-heated closed device
that had the immediate benefit of being faster to come to
the boil, and used less base material to begin brewing. The
task of brewing was most likely shared between David and
his mother with the work of shifting barrels and other
manual work done by Fred Cousins - a native of Stoke who
settled in the village after marrying his Foxearth born wife
Eliza Ward, one of David’s nieces.

Their supplies were drawn from local farmers such as
Alf Thompson at Borley; John Butcher of Bulmer and
William  Inch  of  Windmill  Hill  at  Foxearth  with
Branwhite’s supplying malt and hops. All three farmers, or
their descendents, were occasionally supplying the brewery
at least until 1907 and were tenants of John Foster and his
heirs.

 Of all the styles of beer available around this time,
Ward’s ‘common type’ or ‘cheap’ draught was the most