Martha Crownfield and Martha Mileham Recipe Book

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[Library Title: Handwritten cookbook belonging to Martha Crownfield and Martha Mileham of South Walsham (Norfolk, England)]

Manuscript Location
Ohio State University, Thompson Library Rare Books
Holding Library Call No.
SPEC.RARE.MMS.0366 Box 1
Manuscript Cookbooks Survey Database ID#
1986
Place of Origin
England ➔ Norfolk ➔ South Walsham
Date of Composition
1746-1771
Description
The inside back cover of this recipe book is signed twice by Martha Crownfield, once with the date 1746, and a second time, in smaller, fainter script, with the date 1765. Below these two signatures, there is also the signature of Martha Mileham, with the date November 8th : 1772. The library finding aid explains that Martha Crownfield was the wife of Henry Crownfield, who became the rector of South Walsham, in Norfolk, England, in 1742. In 1747, the couple had a daughter, also named Martha, who later married Benjamin Mileham. The signatures suggest that the elder Martha began compiling recipes in the book in 1746. In 1765, she passed the book down to her daughter, who continued adding recipes to the book until 1771.

The bulk of the book comprises 139 numbered recipes written on 43 numbered pages, minus the recipes originally written on pages 25-26, which are missing. All of these recipes are in the same hand. Page 44 has been numbered by the writer of the previous 43 pages, but the recipe on this page is in a different hand. Eleven additional pages, all unnumbered, follow to the end of the book, most written in the hand of page 44 but several written in other hands. Logically, pages 1 through 43 are the work of Martha Crownfield, while the final 12 pages of the book are mostly the work of Martha Mileham, with a couple of minor contributors.

The primary interest of the book lies in the 139 numbered recipes, roughly two thirds of which are culinary, and one third household and medical. The recipes are uncommonly lengthy, detailed, and specific, and many show indications of having actually been made. Through recipe no. 80, the recipes are loosely grouped and include many recipes for sweet fruit and flower wines and for pickling, potting, and collaring, as well as many household and medical formulas. From recipe no. 81 to the end, the recipes are almost entirely culinary and are tightly organized in the following clutches: soups, forcemeats, pies, meats, puddings, cakes, creams, preserves, and cheesecakes. The fact that the book is organized, albeit only partially, suggests that the book was mostly copied from recipes gathered over a period of time. This is a book that anyone interested in eighteenth-century English gentry cooking will find useful.

A PDF of the digital images of this book is available here. Click on "Handwritten cookbook belonging to Martha Crownfield and Martha Mileham of South Walsham (Norfolk, England)."

See also the 1786 Martha Crownfield Recipe Book, which is part of the UCLA Clark Library collection.