Ashburton's Portreeve checks the quality of bread and ale

The market town of Ashbuton on the edge of Dartmoor nominally still holds to the office of Portreeve, the only town where the office is still held by an act of parliament. A portreeve is a port warden who supervises the quality of bread and ale. Every year at the end of July new council members are elected. They visit the alehouses and give sprigs of evergreen to each landlord who serves satisfactory ale. Loaves are weighed and tasted.

The ceremony is an ancient tradition with a colourful procession through the town in medieval dress of members of the Court Leet and Baron Jury, Town Council and local people culminating in a medieval fair. Up to the time of the Magna Carta in 1215 there is no check on the price or quality of bread and ale. Ashburton's records of its Ale Tasters fining brewers for selling bad ale date back to the 13th century soon after the first ale connors were appointed in London in 1276. An ale connor is an officer appointed annually at the court-leet of ancient English communities to ensure the goodness and wholesomeness of bread, ale and beer. A portreeve or ale connor and taster also levies duties and collected tax.