Hesket Newmarket is a small village in Cumbria, on the opposite side of Skiddaw to Keswick in the North West of England. It is famed for two social enterprises, a co-operatively-owned pub, the Old Crown Inn and a co-operatively-owned brewery, the Hesket Newmarket Brewery.
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The name is recorded in 1227 as Eskeheued, pointing to Old Norse eski = ash (tree) + Anglo-Saxon hēafod = "ash-head" = "hill with ash trees on", and not the usual origin of placenames Hesket and Hesketh.
The Hesket Newmarket Brewery was founded in 1987 by Jim Fearnley who converted the barn at the back of the Old Crown Inn. The first beer, Blencathra Bitter, was launched in March 1988. A telex message sent by Chris Bonington from Katmandu[1] and delivered by his wife Wendy, officially opened the brewery in April that year.
One of the brewery's most popular beers, Doris' 90th Birthday Ale, was officially launched on 12th September 1989 to celebrate the birthday of Jim's mother-in-law, Doris Blackwood[2][3]. The original intention had been to name the beer after a local fell, but the "temporary" name used at the party has remained.
In 1999 a co-operative was established to take over the management of the brewery[4], the majority of whose members live in the village.
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