The Cornish Pasty

1746 - The earliest record of a pasty in Cornwall

The Cornish Pasty is especially proud to present the earliest written records of a pasty in Cornwall.

This page shows copies of original documents held in the Cornwall Record Office at Truro, Cornwall.

The items are a letter from Jane Barriball, Launceston, to John Tremayne, Heligan, St Ewe, dated 9th April 1746, with images of both sides of the document, and of a rewritten copy of the recipe which is for a mutton pasty.

The Letter

Item T1363-17 part 1. Reproduced courtesy of Cornwall Record Office

Transcription .....

Hon^ed S^r [Honoured Sir]
      I have sent the receipt according
      to my promise w^ch [which] is under written from
      Launⁿ 9th April 1746. S^r Yo^r most hble Serv^t                 Jane Barriball
      [Launceston ......... Sir Your most humble Servant]

A Leg or Jigget of Mutton (the Bones being
taken out) is to be rubbed over with ........
Cochineal, then spiced with Mace, Cloves
& Allspice, of each an equal quantity, with
Salt & a little Pepper. To which put in a pint
of Clarret or Port in baking. The Crust
as usual

The nouns are capitalised

It is interesting to see the salutation and shorthand etc. of the day

Receipt = recipe

Jigget of mutton = gigot or leg of lamb, mutton or veal.

The Letter, reverse side

Item T1363-17 part 2. Reproduced courtesy of Cornwall Record Office

To Jn^o Tremayne Esq^r

The added note in different hand-writing reads:

9th Aprill 1746
Mrs Barabell
Receipt to make
Venifon Pasty

The letter is from Jane Barriball. The note on the back, by a different hand, spells it as Barrabell
The added note spells April as Aprill.
The "f" in Venifon denotes the long "s" of Middle English
It is not a venison pasty, the recipe is for a mutton pasty, although any meat could be used.

The recipe, rewritten

Item T1363-14. Reproduced courtesy of Cornwall Record Office

Take A Leg or Jigget of Mutton
(The Bones being Taken out) is to
be rubbed over with Cochineal Then
Spice it with Mace, Cloves & Allspice
of Each an Equal Quantity, with Salt
& Pepper. To which Put in A Pint
of Clarrett or Port in Baking. The -
Crust as Usual

Side-by-side comparison of spelling and capitalisation

Hon^.??l S^r
      I have sent the receipt according
      to my promise ..?.. is under written from
      Launⁿ
      9th April 1746. S^r Yo^r most hble Serv^t      Jane Barriball

Original

Rewritten

"The crust as usual" - it is clear that this is not a recipe for a Cornish turnover pasty but for a traditional English pasty, made in the usual pasty coffyn of the day and which today would be called a pie.

The records were found after a search through national archives, the results of which are found on The Cornish Pasty here: 1449-2001 - Pasties in the National Archives. They were traced via the second record on that web page which shows papers in the Cornwall Record Office that are in the Tremayne family collection from Heligan, St. Ewe, Cornwall. The Heligan web link here is for The Lost Gardens of Heligan but it also gives a short history of the house and the Tremayne family; the house was built by William Tremayne in 1603.

We believe that this letter may be the oft-cited letter by Mrs Polwhele, also from 1746, which is said to be housed in the Cornwall Record Office - they have looked for it several times for The Cornish Pasty without success. The Polwhele letter is referred to, possibly erroneously, on several web sites:

Answers.com - Pasty

BBC - Devon invented the Cornish pasty

Great Food From Britain -The Cornish Pasty

Guardian newspaper - Devon claims 200-year lead on the Cornish pasty

Independent newspaper - Who invented the Cornish pasty?l

Maritime Pasty Co

Observer newspaper - Cornish? No, pasties are from Devon

Wikipedia - Pasty

Acknowledgement: We are grateful to the staff of the Cornwall Record Office, Truro, for their help in the providing the images on this page and for permission to use them on The Cornish Pasty.

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