08/04/2026
As many of you probably know I have taken over the previous Rigout premises that has been a feature of the town for the last 45 years. As the new custodian I am putting my own stamp on the shop and changing things around a little. Which will all be revealed once the whitewash has been removed from the windows!
In the meantime, I will be sharing a few snippets of what we are doing and what I have found.
One of the first items was this hessian rice sack, tucked into an old electrical cupboard. The sack in the printed with the “Epicure Carolina type biological rice 110 Lbs Nett”
The UK stopped using hessian sacks in the 1960’s so it’s at least 65 years old and still in a useable condition today. A full bag weighing 110 lbs around 50 kg or nearly 8 stone showed how strong people were at the time to handle these before modern limits were introduced.
Biological was the old fashioned term for what we call organic these days or just marketing spiel for better for you! Carolina rice (specifically the renowned "Carolina Gold") began arriving in the United Kingdom primarily through the port of London in the early 18th century. While Charleston, South Carolina, was the main export centre in the American colonies, London handled the largest share of imports, with shipments arriving consistently from the 1720s until the American Revolution
While branded "Carolina," the rice variety originated in West Africa and was introduced to the Carolinas by enslaved people, before being cultivated for export to Britain. Other long-grain rice, such as "Patna" rice from India, was also used in Britain during this period, but "Carolina" was regarded as the finest rice in the world during the 18th century and is still available today.
Whilst somewhat unglamourous the sack is quite interesting and part of the shop’s history and will be on a wall somewhere
