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The Brewing Process.1. Malting
The brewing process starts with grains, usually barley (wheat or rye). The grains are harvested through a process of heating, drying out and cracking in an Oast House, commonly seen in the Kent countryside. The main aim of MALTING is to isolate the enzymes needed for brewing so that it is ready for the next step, which is mashing.
2. Mashing
At the brewery, the grain (grist) and hot liquor (water with added minerals) are mashed together, in the Mash Tun for about one hour. This activates enzymes in the malt that cause it to break down and release its sugars – this sugar will ferment the yeast. This sticky, sweet liquid is called WORT. More hot liquor is then sprinkled over the grain to wash all the goodness out, a process called ‘sparging’. The wort is drained from the Mash Tun into the COPPER. The grain, which is retained in the Mash Tun by a perforated floor, is collected by a local farmer for cattle feed.
3. Boiling
The WORT is boiled for about one hour in the COPPER while the hops are added in stages. During the boil, natural resins are extracted from the hops and bitterness is released, late hop additions impart more flavour and aroma. Boiling makes the wort sterile and also removes proteins which would otherwise cause a haze in the beer. Hops, which are grown extensively in Kent, provide bitterness to balance out all the sugar in the Wort and provide flavour. They also act as a preservative, which is what they were first used for.
4. Fermentation
Once the hour-long boil is over the Wort is cooled, via a heat exchanger, from around 102 degrees to 18 degrees, and transferred to the FERMENTATION TANK and the yeast is added. Yeast is added to the fermenter to begin fermentation. The yeast consumes the sugar from the malt to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. Heat is given off as the yeast grows and the temperature of the brew is carefully controlled to allow flavours to develop slowly. After several days, when the yeast has produced the correct level of alcohol, the temperature is reduced.
Racking
The beer is racked off into casks (or bottles) and left to condition for several days in a cold store. Cask beer or ‘real ale’ carries a portion of yeast in it. Residual sugar from the fermentation is slowly consumed by this yeast in the cask to produce a natural carbonation or ‘condition’. When the beer is racked, isinglass finings (made from the swim bladders of fish) are added, they sink to the bottom of the cask with any sediments, clearing the beer.
ROLVENDENHISTORY GROUP
Hops
T h e H o p : A c u r e f o r a l l i l l s . . . ?
Culpepper’s Herbal - Government and Virtues.
It is under the dominion of Mars. This will open
obstructions of the liver and spleen, cleanse the blood,
loosen the belly, cleanse the reins from gravel, and
provoke urine. The decoction of the tops cleanses the
blood, cures the venereal disease, and all kinds of scabs,
itch and other breakings out of the body; as also tetters,
ringworms, spreading sores, the morphew, and all
discolourings of the skin. The decoction of the flowers
and tops help to expel poison. Half a dram of the seed
powder, taken in drink, kills worm in the body, brings
down women’s courses, and expels urine. A syrup made
of the juice and sugar, cures the yellow jaundice, eases
the headache that comes of heat, and tempers the heat
of the liver and stomach, and is profitable given in long
and hot agues that arise from choler and blood. The
young hop sprouts, which appear in March and April,
being mild, if boiled and served up like asparagus, are a
wholesome as well as pleasant tasted spring food. They
purify the blood, and keep the body gently opening.
Nicholas Culpepper (1616-1654)
What are hops?The hop, Humulus lupulus (1753), belongs to the Cannabaceae family of plants which also includes hemp and is related to the nettle and elm families.
It is a herbaceous hardy perennial on a permanent rootstock and can root 12 feet into the ground. It dies back to the base every year and can climb to a height of 20 foot.
The hop climbs with tiny hairs on the stem and the back of the leaves. Leaves are alternate, usually three to seven lobed. The flowers are small and green. The male and female flowers are on separate plants. The larger female cones, made up of many bracts give the fruit that is commercially important.
How are hops used in beer-making?The ingredients of beer are simple...
Barley plus hops plus water plus yeast = beer
Four basic ingredients: barley, water, hops and yeast. The idea is to extract the sugars from the grains (usually barley) so that the yeast can turn it into alcohol and CO2 creating Beer.
The lupulin in the hop cones contains alpha acid which bitters and helps preserve the beer so that it can be stored and transported without rapid deterioration.
An essential oil in the cones imparts flavour and aroma to the beer.
The variety of hop will affect the flavour of the beer.
Beer
Hoppingin Rolvenden
2018 ExhibitionAs the male flower produces a lot of pollen, for many years hop growers planted one male to about one hundred female plants in a hop garden. Hop cones bear glands which contain resins and oils; the substance known as lupulin is one of them. The resins provide the bitterness and the preservative qualities, and the oils the flavour.
Hops are widely grown for brewing. In England the main brewing areas are: the Weald of Kent, Sussex, Hereford and Worcester
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Information from The Old DairyBelow: Ed Wray, head brewer in The Old Dairy at Rolvenden, 2011
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
The Early DaysHow did hops get to Rolvenden?The first recorded reference to the hop was in the 6th century BC. In the 7th century AD, monasteries in Germany and France cultivated hops and their records made reference to the hops’ medicinal properties as well as their value for flavouring and preserving drinks.
It was in the 15th Century that John the Fearless, Count of Flanders, founded the ‘Order of the Hop’ and encouraged hop growing in Flanders.
It is believed that beer first arrived in England in 1400, at Winchelsea Harbour. The use of hops in beer was forbidden in some towns, and hops were blamed for inciting the men involved in Jack Cade’s Rebellion (1450).
The tradition is that the first hop garden was planted in 1520 in Westbere near Canterbury, but there is a strong alternative suggestion for a site at Little Chart near Ashford.
Kent was the earliest centre of Hop Culture because the enclosed field system of farming was already established; the soils were suitable; good supply of wood for poles and charcoal for drying; great deal of expertise from the Flemish weavers who had settled in Kent to make the broadcloth.
The taste for beer was growing and in spite of the link with Protestantism – originated in the low countries – by 1547 the importance of the hop industry was acknowledged when a decree stating that all arable land was to be dug up excluded land set aside for saffron and hops.
Between 1549 and 1553 experts from the Netherlands were brought in to advise English farmers on the techniques of hop growing. Hops were a very profitable crop and eventually legislation had to be brought in to stop farmers abandoning arable farming in favour of hops.
England exported considerable quantities of beer in the sixteenth century. A successful year of growing an acre of good hops could yield more than 50 acres of arable land. Some farmers, however, would not grow hops because of the erratic yield caused by drought, wet periods and mildew.
Picking was costly for the farmer because many men, women and children had to be hired. George Franklyn on 29th August 1603 arranged for 50 or 60 to meet at his hop-grounds at Chart Sutton: as in previous years they included poor and lame people, ‘yea, many soe extreame poore that they did lyve upon the alms of the parishes and poore mens boxe where they were resident’, suggesting that some may have come several miles for work. Men were given 1s a day, women 6d or less.
In the first decades of the seventeenth century, hop-gardens were becoming widely established in the county, especially along the sandstone ridge and in the central weald near Goudhurst. Most hop-gardens of this period were probably between half and two acres in size.
This brings us on to the earliest known reference to hops and Rolvenden - a William Freeman of Rolvenden in December 1645 had hops worth £21 3s 4d in London, others in Maidstone valued at £15 15s, and more in Tenterden worth £35 15s.
The earliest identified site of hops in Rolvenden is in a document of lands purchased by John Weller in 1743 where ‘Hopp-Garden Feild’ and ‘The old Hopp-Ground’ are identified. ‘Hopp-Garden Feild’ is located to the east of Mounts Lane roughly where the oast now is at Upper Woolwich Farm.
As part of this wider story, Rolvenden experienced the same developments and changes throughout the four centuries or so of hop growing in the village.
School built1837
1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 20001400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650
Rolvenden TimelineWhere are hops in the history of Rolvenden?The timeline below shows some key events in the life of the nation, in Rolvenden itself and developments in the hop industry to provide context for Rolvenden’s hop history.
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Beer arrives in England
It is believed that beer first arrived in England in 1400, at Winchelsea Harbour, in a consignment ordered by Dutch merchants working in England. The terms of ‘kilderkin’ (18 gallon casks – 82 litre) and ‘firkin’ (9 gallon casks - 41 litre) are of Dutch origin.
The First Hop Garden
The tradition is that the first hop garden was planted in 1520 in Westbere near Canterbury, but there is a strong alternative suggestion for a site at Little Chart near Ashford.
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Hops in Beer
Customs of London (published 1502) contains a recipe for brewing beer
with hops.
The Hops Instruction Manual
The first instruction manual on growing hops A Perfite Platforme of a Hoppe Garden was written by Reginald Scot of Scot’s Hall in Smeeth (near Ashford) in 1574 and it was reprinted in 1576, 1578, 1640 and 1654. The work was dedicated to Sergeant William Lovelace of Bethersden.
Hop Tax
In 1720 duty was imposed on hops for the first time: 1d per pound on English hops and 3d per pound on Flemish hops. Large revenues were raised for the Exchequer.
Hop Training System Proposed
A Scottish gentleman farmer, H. Hulme, in 1776 advocated a system of hop training which would reduce the expense of poling. He suggested preparing a line of poles running east to west, 8 or 9 feet high and training them west to east to run at angles between the poles. It never became popular and it was at least another century before wire and string work began to replace the old poling system.
Golden Age
The nineteenth century was the golden age of the hop industry: in 1878 there were 71,789 acres planted with hops, by 1900 it was reduced to about 50,000 and by 1909 it was 32,000 acres
Hop Marketing Board
In 1932 the Hop Marketing Board was created. The board exercised a monopoly control
and was immune from the Restrictive Trade Practices
Act, thus ensuring a sheltered market for producers. In 1982 new legislation was passed to
conform with EEC rules.
Hop Picking Machine
In 1934 the hop picking machine was invented but it did not begin to threaten hand picking until after the Second World War.
Hops in Rolvenden!
William Freeman of Rolvenden in December 1645 had hops worth £21 3s 4d in London, others in Maidstone valued at £15 15s, and more in Tenterden worth £35 15s. Railway opened
1900 Rother Valley Railway opened from Robertsbridge
to Tenterden. Tenterden station renamed Rolvenden
in 1903 when the line was extended. Line was extended
further in 1905 to Headcorn
Battle of Agincourt 1415
Rolvenden Church Tower Completed in 1480
The WindmillThe first post mill built in Rolvenden 1596
John Wesleypreaching under Ranter’s Oak and at Wesley Farm House in the1730s
Great MaythamConstruction of Great Maytham Hall begins 1721
First CensusRolvenden
Population 889
Emigration
During 1830s some 200 people from
Rolvenden emigrated to Australia and
Canada
In 1831, Rolvenden population 1507
In 1841, Rolvenden population 1411
Pilgrim Fathers1620 sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower to Cape Cod Massachusetts
Great Plague1665 Great Plague of London precedes the 1666 Great Fire of London
South Chapel St Mary’s South
Chapel dedicated in 1444, built by Edward H
Guildeforde of Halden Place
PrintingCaxton sets up
printing press in Westminster 1476
First game of cricket recorded in Rolvenden 1863
Infant schoolbuilt 1876
Last hop growers Hilder family’s last
hop harvest 2004 at Little Halden Farm
Hop Picking Machine Halden Place installs Rolvenden’s first hop picking machine around 1956
Hop Picking Protest
In 1908 a protest was organised in Tenterden to demand a tax to be placed on imported hops.
Railway closed
Railway was closed in 1954 although hoppers’ specials still recorded as
running in 1958
Micro-brewing becomes a phenomenon in the 1970s
The Old Dairy Micro-brewery established at
Hole Park 2010
First Railway
Stockton to Darlington
opened 1825
Flying Shuttleinvented by John Key in 1733 was a major contribution to the Industrial Revolution
Spinning Jennyinvented by James Hargreaves in 1764
Lady Jane GreyQueen for 9 days in 1553
(she was related to the Guildefordes of Halden
Place) and was executed in 1554
Francis Drakebegins his three year voyage around the world in 1577
Forster’s Education Act 1870 puts elementary education within the reach of every child in Britain
Jethro Tull died in 1741, invented the seed drill, the horse drawn hoe and seen as a key figure in the development of modern agriculture.
Tim Berners -Lee invents
the World Wide Web
1990
John FrankysheVicar of the parish, was burned at the
stake 1555
Robert Cushman key organiser of the Mayflower baptised in Rolvenden 1577
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
January February March April May June July August September October November December
A Year Growing Hops
Getting Ready
Cleaning and whitewashing the oast houses. General preparation of hop bins and bin cloths. Straw and bines for huts.
Planting
Clearing up after picking. Oast houses and hoppers’ huts cleaned out and rubbish destroyed. Delivery of manure and shoddy (wool and fabric waste from northern mills). Mild weather ploughing started. Wire work repairs and pole replacements as necessary. Some bedded sets (plants for replanting on dead hills – hop growth emerges from a central hill). Some bines (growing stem until hops are harvested) retained for pickers’ bedding, others burnt to prevent spread of disease. Bordeaux spraying machines thoroughly overhauled due to corrosive nature of the mixture.
Tying Hops
Tying hops (training selected bines and pulling out surplus growth, also known as firsting). Finished by the end of May. Continued cultivation with horses and tractors also chopping - moving soil around the hills with plate hoes.
Hop training
Preparing
Outside work when weather permits. Lump lime delivered, carted and spread on gardens due for treating. One ton per acre spread on a third of the total acreage each year. All gardens treated with sulphate of potash to encourage foilage, also steamed bone flour to stimulate root development.
Repairing
Continue with ploughing, weather permitting. Clearing out ditches. Trimming poplars (grown to shelter the Hop Gardens also known as Lewing). Wire work, poles and hooks renewed and repaired. All very labour intensive but little to show for the work involved. Brushwood cut for pickers, also cordwood for charcoal.
Picking
Picking the hops took place around September and the duration depended on the season and whether more than one variety of hops was grown.
Once picked hops were quickly moved to the oast house and dried in order to preserve them.
Weeding
Hoeing and general cultivation to prevent weeds. Screening exposed areas around the gardens.
Weeding
Dressing and stringing finished mid-month. Continued cultivation, now done four times to prevent weed growth. (This sort of activity was undertaken to keep farm labourers continuously employed throughout the year which avoided laying off employees during winter months. This practice was discontinued after the Second World War.)
Earthing
All gardens given a last dressing of manure. Then earthing - covering each hill with two shovelfuls of earth, sometimes four, to control growth.
Continuous cultivation to prevent weeds.
Stringing
Digging unploughed strips each side of the hills prior to main cultivation in March. Stringing started by women. String made from coconut fibre used for hops to grow up.
Dressing
Dressing the hops i.e. cutting back the first growth in the the crown of the hill. Spring cultivation by tractor and horses.
S t r i k i n g U p
Finally in autumn for around 4 to 6 weeks intense
hop picking, (Striking Up) gathering, measuring
and drying took place.
Bines were pulled and the hops picked into bins.
Two or three times a day the hops were measured
into bushel baskets, put into ‘pokes’ and taken to
the oast.
S h i m m i n g
‘Shimming’ –the cultivation and caring of the hop bine
took place during the growing time in summer.
H o p D r e s s i n g & S t r i n g i n g
Spring time was when ‘Hop dressing’ took place. This
was choosing the best and strongest hops to encourage.
‘Stringing’ was training the hop bines up the ‘wirework’
which was already in place.
S t r i n g i n g
I used to have an acre to string up. I used to go three times,
string them up, make sure they were neat and tidy. My dad used
to come and help me sometimes. I did that for two or three
years, then I worked on the machines at Bates’ again. I’ve done it
all really and all field work, when the kids were small. It was the
only thing you could do really and take the kids with you. We
were picked up and brought home. The stringing up you had to
do it about right, so many strands on so many strings. We didn’t
have to go far – we’d go down Friezingham Lane to it, walk there.
It was worth it. When you first do it it’s the hardest part, when
you go over it again it’s just making sure they’re on the right
strings and the third time you’re just tidying up. Used to always
be on my knees the first time. There are a lot of hills in an acre!
From a conversation with Jenny Glover Nipper Austen on Hole Park. From an exhibition by Brian Hodgson. 1984
Timeline adapted from research by Sue Saggers on Beltring’s 1937-38 Farming Year
Courtesy of KATH BA
LKHA
MCourtesy of KATH
BALKH
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Extract from a project by Joan Austen 1945Extracts from a project by Joan Austen 1945
After picking, the clear up operation begins
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
Memories of HoppingNative labour
H o p P i c k i n g i n 1 8 7 8
A Hop Picking Trip.
Rolvenden, through which we drove, as I next day found it to be, is a large, well-built village, beautifully situated. It is in two parts; the smaller, a kind of hamlet, being at some distance from the principal part, which includes the church.
Arriving at our destination, I readily recognized the quaint, old, comfortable looking, half-timbered house which I had already seen in photograph. There is evidence of the house being in existence in the 17th century, if not earlier, and, with modern appliances for comfort, combined with good taste, it has a far greater air and feeling of comfort than can be obtained with the stiff formality of modern houses. I was afterwards shown throughout the house, and found numerous places where, no doubt, smugglers, who formerly much frequented
the neighbourhood, found hiding places for their goods; and it is here, should need be (this is between ourselves), that I would seek a hiding place.
Here – as I supposed through the hop district – hops were “to the fore.” Their weight, colour and marked price were constantly discussed, so that I am now not satisfied with my Daily if it does not quote the price of the article I have learned to take an interest in. In the hop garden I picked with an old man, who told me that he had picked for seventy seasons in the family of my host. It speaks well for the healthiness of the occupation and it is generally recognized that the numerous families who come for the season from the worst parts of London go back much invigorated and improved in health by their few weeks’ life in camp. Most of the picking in this neighbourhood is done by native labour, the growers preferring that when obtainable. Nearly everybody, including the farmer’s family and servants (for
whom there is what they call a house bin), appears to take a turn at the picking. I was introduced into the mysteries of drying, pocketing, and sampling, also charcoal burning, all very interesting processes. The oast houses are circular brick buildings, about 16 ft in diameter. The hops, to the depth of about 15 inches, are spread upon a hair cloth laid on open joists and battens, about twelve feet above the fires, which are of charcoal, with more or less brimstone, according to the fancy or experience of the dryer, generally an old experienced hand. After being in the kiln for 10 or 11 hours they are raked out and passed through a coarse sieve. They are then shovelled through a round hole in the floor into the mouth of a pocket already placed there, and, by an ingenious combination of wheels and cranks, are very tightly pressed, by which means about 1¾ cwts, equal to many bushels, are got into a single pocket. The mouth of the pocket is then sewn up by men on the lower floor and it then looks like an enormous bolster, but much too
hard a substitute for that luxurious article. Each pocket is then marked with large letters with the name of grower, place, weight, date and consecutive number.
The next process is the sampling, which is very ingeniously done by ripping open a short length of the seam of the pocket about the middle; then, with a sharp specially made knife (I cannot attempt the technical terms) and tongs, a square solid block is taken out, trimmed, criticised, neatly wrapped in brown paper, numbered to correspond with its pocket, and placed in a rack. The waste is then put back and the pocket re-sewn, when it is ready for the London market, as can now be seen by waggon loads daily in the Old Kent road and Borough. The aroma pervading all the processes is very agreeable, and sharpening to the appetite – a rather expensive luxury to the large families of poor children who come to the picking.
From the Sussex Advertiser, 9th October 1878
H o p P i c k i n g H o l i d a y
I’m not sure what age I would have been, quite young I should imagine, because I’ve got two older siblings who took me down there and I had a box to pick hops in and I was allowed after [picking] to go and wander around and play… wherever I wished to spend my time. I think I had to do a few boxes in the morning and a few boxes in the afternoon.
We used to start about, from home, about seven in the morning. We’d be there about half past seven and then we’d stay there, I think, all day, until they’d got enough hops for two dry kiln loads. Then we’d go home, which would be roughly around five o’clock, and on the next day carry on the same until you came to Saturday and then it was only half a day… [We were] all regulated by the amount of hops that had been picked and the amount they could dry in the oast at the time.
… the youngsters had what they called a half bin, which was a full bin divided in the middle so it was two half bins and you’d… two different families would pick one one side and one the other. As I got a bit older, of course, I would have had to have picked in the bin… [You] had a lunch break of about an hour.
There was later in hop picking some very cold mornings and I can remember anxiously watching the sun come up over the trees so you could get a bit of warmth, you know it was rather cold to your hands. You didn’t wear gloves much in those days and of course … continually picking hops … stain[ed] your hands … The hop stain … was always a job to get off.
The reason for going hop picking was to earn some money to buy clothes so that when we went back to school after the hop picking holiday, because that’s what we called it… we had about four weeks off in September so that we could go hop picking and so then hopefully we’d got our hop picking money and some new clothes to go back to school in for the new term… If they hadn’t got the holiday right, you’d carry on picking until, you know, you’d finished and then you’d go back to school.
Extract from an interview with Peter Austen on his memories of hop picking in the 1930s
Joan Brown and Kit Collins in a hop garden in 1936
Wendy Farris, Roger Farris, Geoff Monk, Kath Tiltman, Judith Farris & Doris Farris,1961Harden and Hemsley hop picking children
Bob Austen (September 1933)
Painting RolvendenWilliam Gilbert Foster (1865-1906) was a senior member of the Staithes Group of artists, he had a studio at Runswick for many years. He painted landscapes and rural genre in oil and watercolours. Born in Manchester. A self-taught artist, apart from some instruction from his father, a portrait painter.
Scenes of the Yorkshire coast were his favourite subject. Exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy (forty times) and at the Royal society of British.
A painting of a hop garden scene at Rolvenden by Foster sold at Sotheby’s, New York in 1994 – estimate was £2,500 - £3,500.
Left: Cutting the bine in a pole garden
Below Far Left: The Weller family
Below Near Left: Bette Poole
RIght: Minnie Kedwell in a pole garden
T h e P o l e P u l l e r
In the early days, we had pole gardens. You used to have
the pole puller – he’d come in and lift the pole out, with
hops on it, lay it across the bins, and the people would be
picking into the bins, or half a bin. You had a moveable
bin and rows of hops. Later the hops were on wire work
above you and you’d pull the bines down and hang them
over the bins. I remember getting showered by water
off the bines. You’d start very early in the morning and it
was horrible, wet and cold. Miserable.
Graham Tiltman
Jenny Glover’s mother and brother Terry Wright hop picking in Sept 1951
P i c k i n g a s a c h i l d
I was brought up in Lambsland Cottages so we just had
to go across the road to Stuart Bates’ hops. You had all
the Londoners there as well. I was going on for about
8 I suppose; there was about 9 years between me and
my brother. I didn’t pick as a child, but he had to, all day
long. We loved it. You had lovely weather, you met such
a lot of people. When I come to the age of 11 my mother
thought I was old enough to have half a bin. I was
allowed a couple of hours off in the day to go and play
but she said “All you pick, the money at the end, you can
have.”
Jenny Glover
Roy and Doreen Moore in a hop garden
Pam Monk, Mrs Hemsley and Mrs Monk at Divall’s, 1954
Hops had a very pungent smell and when picked left
brown/black stains on the hands which had to be
washed off at the end of the day. Everything smelled of
hops – bags, cups, clothes – nothing escaped.
Graham Tiltman
Hopping HolidaysIt is difficult to find entries for September in the Rolvenden School log books. From the beginning of the logs until the 1960s, the five weeks around September were the summer/hop-picking holidays. The term stopped at the end of August when the hops were ready and resumed at the beginning of October.
Courtesy of KATH BA
LKHA
M
Courtesy of GEO
FF BLAIN
Courtesy of DO
REEN M
OO
RE
Courtesy of KITTY BUCKLEY
Courtesy of JOA
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SCourtesy of JEN
NY G
LOVER
Courtesy of BETTY WELLER
Courtesy of BETTE POO
LE MATTH
EWS
Courtesy of Mr R F M
onk
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
S i n g i n g i n t h e d a r k
We had a mixture of local people and the pickers from
the East End … Londoners came down and the same
families used to come down each year… and usually go
to the same farm. There were huts on the farms for them
to stay in… the huts at Rawlinson, the farmer would
just supply them with straw to make a bed and they
lived there, and … they had an open fire outside to do
cooking and that sort of thing and they spent the hop
picking there as their living accommodation.
… Quite often the husbands would come down at the
weekend and then … they’d visit the local pubs and
have a few beers and it used to get a bit jolly when
they was going home because they weren’t used to the
countryside being [so] dark [at] night … so they used to
sing on the way home back from the pub…
Extract from an interview with Peter Austen on his
memories of hop picking.
F r o m C a n n i n g To w n
In the mid to late 1930s, then during the Second World
War and for some years after that my husband’s Aunt
and her family, who lived in Canning Town very close to
the London docks and were typical ‘East Enders’, used
to come down every year for about six weeks to go
hop-picking in Kent. They went to various farms, one I
remember the other side of Goudhurst, where not that
long ago you could still see some of the hoppers’ huts in
a field on the left. I don’t know the name of that farm, it
might have belonged to the Henley family, I’m not sure.
I think they probably came down from London by lorry
to this farm and I know they would bring everything
down at the start of the children’s summer holidays and
leave the mums, aunts and kids down there and the men
would go back to their jobs in London during the week,
returning at the weekend.
The farm that I know of nearest to me now is Friezingham
Farm – I don’t know whether the Tompsett family were
there then. The Aunt and her family (Aunt Min was her
name!) came to this farm during the war and were joined
by my husband’s parents and Alan (my husband), who
was born in 1943. They would travel down from London
to Robertsbridge by train, change to the K&ESR train to
Wittersham Road, then walk up the road to Friezingham
Lane, pushing children in prams and all their belongings
for their stay. When I first moved to Rolvenden Layne,
more than twenty years ago, my parents-in-law were still
alive, and were living near Faversham, then latterly in
Tenterden. When they came to visit me, we would walk
round to Friezingham Lane and the hop huts that they
stayed in were still there, on the right, more or less where
the tarmac road ends and becomes the track to the
farm. The huts gradually deteriorated and are not there
anymore, but I think you can still see the concrete base.
They knew the Ewe & Lamb, although were not frequent
customers I was always told, and the general store on the
corner and they also often walked up to the village.
Ann Cole
London hop pickers outside Ewe and Lamb (Ann Cole recognised her Aunt & Uncle in the photo).
EastendersRolvenden’s farming workforce multiplied in hop picking season as many families travelled down from London, particularly from the East End to pick the hops. They stayed in ‘hopper huts’ on the farms.
Winifred Saxby (centre)
Ethel Babbage, Mrs King, Mrs Sinden and Olive Babbage
Left: Geoff Blain and Joan Kedwell with Mrs Kedwell behind.
Above Right and Below Right: Friezingham Pickers
The hopper hut at Friezingham where Patrick’s family stayed
C o l l e c t i n g t h e H o p P i c k e r s
When I worked on Hole Park in the ‘50s, I’d go up and
collect the hop pickers. They’d pile on with their boxes
and old prams and the kids in the back of the lorry and
I’d take them up to Halden Place to the hopper huts.
Then next day I’d go up and get another lot to take down
to Rawlinson. Then at the end of hop picking I used to
takem all back to London. Had to stop here and there at
different pubs on the way...
The hop pickers used to go up The Bull on a Saturday
night - there was usually a punch-up. Porters had The
Bull then. The hop pickers used to have to go in the back
door and get a jug of beer and pay a shilling for a glass.
When the pub turned out they’d find a way back to
Halden Place through the old lane. They used to do a lot
of singing because they were afraid of the dark.
Words from Geoff Blain (Rolvenden Recollections)
Courtesy of PATRICK ALLEN
London pickers at Friezingham
Courtesy of PATRICK ALLEN Courtesy of PATRICK A
LLEN
Extract from a project by Joan Austen 1945The pokes on their way to the Oast
Bessie Britcher mum left and daughter on right
P r e p a r i n g t o t r a v e l
To start at the beginning: it is 1948, Dagenham Essex.
This evening outside a terraced house in First Avenue,
the grown-ups, watched by an inquisitive young
audience larking about and making plenty of noise, are
loading up a lorry. Household effects: furniture, blankets,
bed linen, food, all the paraphernalia needed for a long
stay away. The family is readying for another yearly
journey to the magic of Kentish countryside.
Patrick Allen
T h e M e a s u r e r
Here were the measurer of hops and his booker who
recorded the tally of hops picked. Picking started at 7am
and by 9 there would be enough hops in bins for the
measurer to start. His basket held a bushel of hops, a
measure of volume, not weight. Measurer and booker
would make their way along the lines of hop bins which
the pickers had been filling, working alone or as a family
unit. The measurer would lay the basket in the hops and
come up with a basketful for pouring into a poke, one of
those squat sacks used for carting the hops to the oast
where they would be tipped out on the floor above the
fire, spread out and dried. Each poke held 10 bushels
and was held open by the poke boy who would tie it
up once it was full. When he had completed a bin, the
measurer would call a number to the booker; this was
the number of baskets taken out and it was recoded in
the book against the name of the picker and written on
the picker’s own tally card.
Peter Cyster
There would always be a shout as the measurer was
coming round, when he was two or three bins away. He
would shout out “Get your hops ready,” so you would
know within ten minutes the measurer would be there,
so you had to stop picking and get your hops ready and
clean out the rubbish – pick all the leaves out and shake
them up one end so he could get the basket in and do
the measuring. He could refuse to take them if they were
bad.
Ron F. Monk
I loved hop picking. Mr Monk used to be the measurer.
We went down Bates’. He would say to my mother “I can’t
take Shirley’s hops, she’s got cheese rinds and everything
in there. I used to have the crusts and cheese rinds and
chuck them in there.
Shirley Howlett
Courtesy of PATRICK ALLEN
Courtesy of KATH BA
LKHA
M
Courtesy of KATH BA
LKHA
M
Courtesy of SUE D
YER
Courtesy of RON
SAXBY
Courtesy of GEO
RGE BA
BBAGE
Courtesy of GEO
FF BLAIN
T h e h u t s
Then into the hut goes a small chair or two, two chests of
drawers with a board across as a table top, some shelves
are fixed to the walls using existing fittings. A paraffin
primus stove provides inside cooking. Paraffin lamps
are hung against a wall for light. Water containers are
filled from an outside standpipe. I have a memory of wall
coverings of some kind, to keep out the cold nights to
come, some sort of sacking.
Patrick Allen
Courtesy of BETTE POO
LE MATTTH
EWS
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
The oast house is everywhere in Kent. 28 oasts have been identified in Rolvenden of which 21 survive in all or part, 2 are ruins and 5 have been lost entirely.
Hops need to be dried quickly after picking in order to maintain their quality and prevent them from decomposing in storage. When picked, the moisture content of the green hops is 75-85%. When dried, this is reduced to around 6-10%.
In the early years, hops were dried in the sun, in lofts or in malt drying kilns. None of these methods provided sufficient control of the drying process to ensure that optimum moisture content could be achieved consistently.
The writer, Reynolde Scott in 1574 championed the virtues of an ‘oste as they dry their hoppes upon at Poppering’, (Poppering being Poperinghe, Belgium). This ‘oste’ as he described was a purpose-built rectangular building with three rooms - a room for receiving the green hops next to a room with boarded floor and furnace below for drying the hops and a room for cooling the dried hops.
A remarkable building at Little Golford represents the closest survival to this early design.
The early oasts were generally an adaptation of the traditional agricultural barn with added furnace, drying floor and hole in the roof.
As time progressed the advantages of taller kilns with greater draught became evident. Likewise brick or ragstone kilns with their reduced fire risk replaced earlier timber framed, lathe and plaster designs.
Both earlier (1700s) and later (1900s) kilns are square in form, but throughout the early and middle part of the nineteenth century a great number of round kilns were built.
Oast HousesWhy were the oast houses built?
Where were the hop gardens and oast houses in Rolvenden?This map shows the location of oast houses, hopper huts and just some of the many hop gardens which have existed in Rolvenden.
Rolvenden’s Oasts
Ordnance Survey, (c) Crown Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. Licence number 100022432
Photo © O
ast House A
rchive (cc-by-sa/2.0)
Halden Place Oast
Wesley House and oasts
Courtesy L. LAN
GH
AM
Cornhill Oast
Forsham Oast, Rolvenden - Postcard by Fiona Pragoff 1992
Upper Woolwich Oast
Rolvenden’s OastsOast Kiln type Current StatusRawlinson 2 Round SurvivesHalden Place 2 Round SurvivesHalden Lane Farm 1 or 2 Round Stowage survivesLittle Halden 2 Square, 1
RoundSurvives
Strood 2 Square Lost (Exact location uncertain)New Barn 1 Square SurvivesPuddingcake 2 Round Stowage survivesWinton 1 Round SurvivesLower Murgie 2 Square SurvivesBeechingland 1 Round SurvivesUpper Woolwich 1 Round (C19)
1 Square (Late C20)
SurvivesAmerican style cowls
Bull Farm 2 Round Destroyed by Fire in 1960Friezingham 2 Round The traditional oast was lost before
1940, but hop drying continued until recently at the farm
Gate House (Frensham)
1 Round Survives
Wesley (The Oast House)
2 Round Survives
Thornden 4 Round 2 kilns and stowage surviveHillgate 1 Round (C19)
1 Square (C20)Survives
Lambsland 1 Round Ruins of kiln remainsMaytham 2 Round SurvivesForsham 1 Round SurvivesGreat Job’s 1 Round SurvivesHexden 2 Round Destroyed by Fire in 1928, ruins
remainLittle Kensham Probably 1
SquareNo trace survives
Kensham 2 Round SurvivesCornhill 1 Round SurvivesMerrington (Bayard’s Oast)
2 Round Survives
Regent St 1 Round Lost, site redeveloped before 1898Windmill Farm 2 Round Survives, now offices
The Oast at Little Golford between Cranbrook, Benenden and Sissinghurst is a remarkable survival from around the 1750s but reusing earlier structural components from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
There was a hop dryer and his mate in the oast all the
time. For the month or more it was on, they only cat
napped all that time. They’d go home on a Sunday
and have a night at home but Monday morning early
they’d be back down the oast and get the fires going for
Monday’s hops coming in about midday to put on the
dryer.
The hops had to be tipped out of their pokes onto the
‘air’ as they called it – the drying floor – and they would
have to be loaded on there. When they’d got all these
lumps of hops all over the floor, Will would get in there
with a rake, up to his knees in hops and he’d have to
level them. When he’d finished those hops were as level
in that kiln as you’d ever get them. They really were
level. He’d turn the rake round, just with the handle, and
poke each individual hop almost to get them dead level
because if they weren’t level they’d get uneven drying.
As far as I can remember, the hops would come in late
afternoon, after the hop pickers had finished – they’d be
measured out about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and the
hops were brought to the oast, they’d be loaded onto
the air through the evening time and the burners would
be lit and they’d be drying ‘til 4, 5 o’clock in the morning.
It may be less than that because they’d be taken off the
air when they were cooked, dried, and spread all out on
the cooling floor – usually down a couple or three steps
from the kiln floor –and when they were cool enough
they’d start pressing, 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning.
As I got older, 14 or 15, and had left school, I’d go down
the oast with Tony and stay there Friday and Saturday
nights. When we slept in the oast, we used to chuck
down a layer of two or three empty pokes to make
a mattress, then we’d get a pocket and get in it like
a sleeping bag. That wasn’t half warm! We used to
sleep on the oast floor on a bed of pokes, fully clothed
of course. Cold frosty nights in September, but those
pockets were very warm. And how we used to have a
good old fry up in the morning. Had an old frying pan
down there and oil stoves that had two burners.
Each pocket had to be sewn up when it was fully pressed
and then by about 10 o’clock you’d get the next lot
of hops come in from the garden, from the morning’s
picking. They would be loaded onto the air during the
afternoon and the fires would be started up and the
same process would happen.
Ron F. Monk
O a s t H o u s e M e m o r i e s
One of the things that Tony and I used to do was harness
up the horse and wagon and go up the hop garden to
fetch the hops in. The bushels had been counted up and
put in a poke, 10 bushel into a poke, tied up and carried
to the edge of the hop garden and we’d come up with
the wagon and load them up, then take them to the oast.
They were quite big – not exactly heavy but soft and
floppy – we had to unload them off the wagon, cart them
up the steps into the oast, stack them on the cooling
floor to start with, and when they were all there they’d be
untied and each one would be carried up the steps into
the roundel and tipped out onto the air, and Will would
be in there with his rake levelling them. The pokes were
all shook out, folded up and put on the wagon to go
back up the hop garden for the next measuring in the
afternoon.
Pressing the hops Sewing the pocket
In the Oast
Bull Farm, Rolvenden Oast Fire 1960
Hexden Farm Oast Fire, 1928 Hexden Farm: Showing Oasts before destruction by fire.
Courtesy of Mrs M
. Lowrie
Frank Sinden testing hops for moisture
Postcard of Little Halden Farm with John and Jonathan Hilder
The hop dryer’s bedroom at Hole Park
Mr Bill Monk, Maytham Farm
Stacked pockets 1990 Unloading hops at Paddock Wood warehouse
S u l p h u r i c A c i d a n d D i e s e l E n g i n e s
On arriving at the oast, the hops were placed on the kiln
floor, sulphuric acid ‘bricks’ were included to purify the
hops and over the next 6 to 8 hour period the hops were
dried and put into hop pockets ready for delivery to the
brewery.
The drying of the hops was a continuous process where
Walter and Gerald were available for 24 hours each day
continually drying the hops and getting them ready for
delivery. At this time the Kiln was fired by a diesel engine
and Gerald remembers sleeping by the engine so that
he was on hand to monitor the drying process. Getting
the drying process correct was an exact science as it was
critical to quality of the finished product.
Information from an interview with Gerald Funnell. Gerald
worked with his uncle, David Hook and father, Walter
at Cherry Garden Farm and Merrington Farm (which
was tenanted to them and formed a part of the Duke of
Bedford’s estate). They worked together until 1972.
Walt Funnell, Joe Hoad and Ted Swift loading the pokes at Merrington.
D r y i n g t h e H o p s
It takes about twelve hours to dry a kiln of hops. The first load would
come off somewhere about lunch time depending on how they dried
- some loads dried quicker than others and usually the later it got in
the hop picking, the less time it was required to actually get them to
dry. When the hops were ready to come off, you’d get a handful of
hops and rub them in your hand and then you’d decide whether they
were far enough along. And in 1973, when I hadn’t had anything to
do with hops for several years, a farmer approached me and [asked]
would I be able to take on the drying and I said I would, so I dried the
hops at Maplesden Farm in 1973 and that was in an old fashioned
oast with two kilns with cowls on top and obviously we found the oil
burners instead of a fire.
Peter Austen
Rolvenden’s Lost Oasts7 Oasts have been identified which have been lost from Rolvenden, some quite spectacularly due to fire, others probably as a result of change in farming patterns or their unsuitable location.
The Drying Floor The hops were laid out here. A slatted floor with hair cloth allowed heat to pass through.
CowlThe vane enables the cowl to turn with the wind and allows the ‘reek’ and hot air to escape whilst keeping the rain out.
StowageThe cooling floor was where the green hops were brought in their ‘pokes’ and where the dried hops were laid out to cool.
FireOriginally timber and charcoal, later coke or Welsh anthracite (a clean burining coal) was used to heat the air which moved up the kiln. Eventually these were replaced with diesel and oil heaters.
Oast Kiln type Current StatusStrood 2 Square Lost (Exact location uncertain)Bull Farm 2 Round Destroyed by Fire in 1960Friezingham 2 Round The traditional oast was lost before
1940, but hop drying continued until recently at the farm
Lambsland 1 Round Ruins of kiln remainsHexden 2 Round Destroyed by Fire in 1928, ruins
remainLittle Kensham Probably 1 Square No trace survivesRegent St 1 Round Lost, site redeveloped before 1898
Draught doorThe door outside was partly used to control the air supply to the fire and therefore the heat produced.
Hop PressThe dried hops were pressed into pockets which were sewn and lowered through a trap door.
KilnThe drying part of the oast. Known as a ‘roundel’ when round.
Courtesy of ERIC LAVELL COLLEC
TION
Courtesy of GEO
RGE BA
BBAGE
Courtesy of KATH BA
LKHA
M
Courtesy of KATH BA
LKHA
M
Courtesy of GEO
RGE BA
BBAGE
Courtesy of GEO
RGE BA
BBAGE
Courtesy of GEO
RGE BA
BBAGE
Courtesy of RON
F. MO
NK
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
MechanisationFrom the early days until the twentieth century growing and especially picking hops was a labour intensive job requiring a large work force.
While general advancements like the tractor played their part, it was the hop picking machine (invented 1934) brought about the most radical changes.
Tools & Machinery
Photo Sequence Courtesy of TERRY MO
ORE
7. The track to take the hops to the oast. 8. The blower and track taking out the unwanted leaves and stems.
1. Upper Woolwich Farm: This photo shows track to take the bines from trailer to stripper part of machine. Mrs Eileen Collett, Doreen Moore’s sister in white.
3. George Luker keeping watch on machine.
2. View towards oast house. George Luker ready with long stick to clear blockage. Eileen Collett on right.
4. George Luker attending a problem. Note track at top to take bines outside once they have been stripped of hops.
6. Left facing, Mrs Weeks, Rt facing Mrs Elliott, Left back facing Mrs Tolhurst, right back poss Mrs Hook. Picking out missed leaves.
5. The hops and leaves are separated in this section.
Hop Picking MachinesThe first hop picking machine in Rolvenden was installed at Halden Place around 1956. It was a new technology which revolutionised the picking process. Other machines in the parish were at Halden Lane Farm, Little Halden, Friezingham, New Barn Farm and Upper Woolwich Farm.
Bringing the Hole Park hops in.
The modern working oast
The following photos show the modern working oast at Nicholas’ farm in Sandhurst. The hops arrive at the oast on a trailer and are hooked onto a conveying system which takes them to the picking machine. The hop flowers or cones are stripped from the bines and separated from the waste which is blown into a pile outside the oast. The hops are dried in the oast and pressed into bales. Malcolm Noble has been awarded the accolade of Knight of the Hop for his services over the past 50 years.
Cutting the bines at Hole Park
Extract from a project by Joan Austen 1945
T h e r i s e o f t h e m a c h i n e s
Hand picking was the method
of gathering the hops before
Richard went into National
Service and when he returned
in 1954, machine picking was
introduced starting with one
machine. In 1955 another
machine picker was added and
by 1956 there were no hand
pickers employed. In the early
1950s many of the hand pickers
came down from the East End
of London, and were mainly
dockers. At this time the hours of
work were from 5 in the morning
until 10 at night and was quite
intensive, lasting for around four
to five weeks - depending on the
ripeness of the hops. (The picking
season could be extended by
planting different varieties which
ripened at different times.) For
some people in the early 50s
and 60s, the hop picking was a
holiday venture but with cheap
package holidays abroad, the
influx of Londoners declined
alongside the introduction of
mechanisation.
This was a major change from
earlier years when the Hop
picking was a valued source of
income for the poor families from
East London.
Richard thought that prior to the
introduction of machine picking
there were around 1000 people
employed and so in around
five years the change from an
intensive labour industry to
virtually no labour was extreme.
From a conversation with Richard
Coleman who farmed in nearby
Hawkhurst and worked as a
director of English Hops
By HandFor centuries hand tools were the mainstay of the hoppers’ work and a variety of intriguing tools and implements were developed to assist in the process.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre sights of all in the hop garden were the stilts which were used for stringing the wires several feet in the air.
Courtesy of ERIC LAVELL Courtesy of G
EORG
E BABBAG
E
Cutting bines at Little Halden Farm
T h e S c u p p e t
The Oasts had slatted floors covered with coconut
matting, sulphur or brimstone was added to aid the
‘cooking.’ A ‘Scuppet’ ( a large bladed spade) was used
to put the hops into the kiln. Hop presses were used to
compress the dried hops in order to get them tightly
packed, the first presses were hand driven and looked
like large mangles.
Syd Brooks
Extract from a project by Joan Austen 1945
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
1908 Hop Protest.
In May 1908 a large crowd gathered at Tenterden’s recreation ground complete with marching band, carriages and placards in order to demand a tax on all foreign hops.
50,000 people gathered in London that same month on this issue.
RemainsHoppers HutsYou won’t have to go far in Rolvenden to be reminded of Rolvenden’s once thriving hop industry. There are a number of derelict hopper huts and tar pits in farmyards and in the countryside around the village. Hopper Huts remain at a number of farms in the parish in varying states of disrepair.
Above and Top Right: Derelict hoppers huts. Mount Le Hoe
ReuseNostalgia for the hopping ageThe primitive outdoor life of the hopper seems to have had been enjoyed especially by those who came down from London year after year. The desire for a simple life in the countryside hasn’t gone away and so the hopper huts at Little Halden Farm have a new use - a bit more of the holiday and less of the hard work!
Tar PitsCreosote became available in 1862 and was used for dipping the end of the chestnut hop poles to help prevent them rotting in the ground and so prolonging their useful life. Specially designed pits were constructed to treat the poles.
At least three of these tar pits or tanks remain. These are located to the west of Little Halden Farm, at Halden Place and at Kensham Farm.
Packing UpDeath of a Hop Picking MachineFriezingham Farm was one of the last farms to finish growing hops. The hop wires and hop poles have now been removed and the hop picking machine has now gone. The steady decline of the hop industry goes back a long way - over a century ago there was an organised protest against cheap imports.
A H o p P i c k e r ’ s L a m e n t
No more the cockerel starts my day
As down through lanes I’d wend my way
Past hedgerows with their spidery traces
Covered in dew like Breton laces
Now harvests gone from all endeavour
A way of life has passed forever
Farewell to faithful bin and stool
You served us well, we picked you full
Good byes to songs from London stage
Sung by the pickers, were the rage
No more the call becomes a winner
“Pole” “Bin off” and “All to dinner”
As last breath from the cowl exhales
And evening light grows dim and pales
We too will fade and pass away
I hope there’s hops where we will stay
L.S.F.Above: Tompsett’s Hop Picking Machine at Friezingham Farm Below: Tompsett’s stacked hop poles in 2016
Courtesy of MISS TH
OBU
RN
The tar pit at Halden Place
The oast at Windmill Farm, before and during its conversion to offices.
Reusing Oast HousesAs with Kent’s oast houses generally, a majority of Rolvenden’s remaining Oast Houses have been converted to homes or offices.
Thornden Oast, before conversion and right as it is today.
Chesnut Poles
The development of tar pits in the nineteenth century was met with objections from the established chestnut pole producers . Longer lasting poles would mean fewer new poles would be required each year.
Courtesy of TENTERD
EN M
USEU
M
T h e h u t s
The hoppers’ huts would be ready in
accordance with the regulations: one
shared cold tap, a large supply of dry
straw and a couple of latrine pits in a
convenient wood, draped with canvas
awnings, the men and women’s thunder
boxes! The huts were about 10’ square
with a door and a slatted bed attached
to the back wall. Typically there would be
3 or 4 adults and a lot of children in each
hut. Cooking was done over an open fire
outside.
Peter Cyster
Courtesy of TENTERD
EN M
USEU
M Courtesy of TEN
TERDEN
MU
SEUM
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
Rolvenden History Group is a recently formed local history society running events, lectures and local research projects.
This is the Group’s first exhibition and is just one of a number of areas of local history in which its members have shown an interest.
Topics which are hoped to become a focus in the coming months are History of Gardens and the Mayflower 2020
ROLVENDENHISTORY GROUP
We hope you have enjoyed this exhibition
The Committee of Rolvenden History Group would like to thank all those who have contributed to the exhibition through photos, memories and artefacts.
celebrations which has special relevance to Rolvenden as Robert Cushman, one of the chief organisers of the 1620 voyage, was born in the parish.
If you are interested in knowing more about our local History Group or contributing to our memory archive please talk to one of the committee; Bruno Del Tufo, Sue Hatt, Matthew Hopkins, Jackie King or Sue Saggers and for membership please contact Judy Vinson (01580 241504, [email protected]).
Have hops gone forever from Rolvenden?Hops are still an essential part of the beer brewing process, so you never know!
The hop industry has declined over the course of the twentieth century to the point that there are no current hop growers in Rolvenden.
However, the local distinctiveness of micro-brewed and craft beers presents an alternative to the global production systems which flavour the majority of our beers with hops grown around the world.
The Old Dairy Brewery whose beers are now a familar sight in Kent started in Rolvenden and uses local hops. They are now based in Tenterden.
Hops are still grown locally in Biddenden, Smarden, Bodiam, Sandhurst, Staplehurst and Lamberhurst.
Perhaps, the small number of remaining growers will preserve something of a traditions of hop growing in Kent until such time as increasing production again becomes viable.
The Last Oast
I t s t a r t e d i n R o l v e n d e n . . .
The Old Dairy Brewery was started in an old dairy on the
Hole Park Estate, Rolvenden and is part of the resurgence
of brewing in Kent over the last few years. Lionel Fretz,
an investment banker from London, was living locally
and wanted to own a brewery. He located the old dairy
at Hole Park and as is said ‘the rest was history’. The
original brewery was set up in 2010 and within four years
had outgrown the dairy and needed to move to larger
premises. They are now housed in two Second World War
Nissen huts. They have retained their Rolvenden roots by
keeping their Old Dairy range of labels and have recently
introduced their ‘Cattle Shed’ range, which is aimed at
gastro pubs and continental outlets.
Around eight years ago there were eight microbreweries/
breweries in Kent, there are now forty-seven.
From a conversation with The Old Dairy Brewery
The Old Dairy Brewery in 2011 at Hole Park
The Future
Bibliography
Chalklin, C.W., Seventeenth Century Kent, John Hallewell Publications, 1978 Filmer, R., Hops and Hop Picking by Richard Filmer, Shire Books, 1982 King, J., Rolvenden Recollections, 2016 Major, A., The Oasthouses: Their Life and Times, S.B. Publications, 2006 Phillips, R. and M. Rix, The Botanical Garden, Volume Two Perennials and Annuals, Firefly Books, 2002.
We would particularly like to acknowledge the following for their generous contributions to making this exhibition possible:
Rolvenden Parish Council
St Mary the Virgin (Rolvenden PCC)
Tenterden and District Museum
The Old Dairy Brewery
Vernacular Homes Ltd
The man is in what is called the crow’s nest, it’s a ladder with a platform
on top. He cuts the bine at the top of the wire. The tractor is driven slowly
up the rows and the hop bines fall down on the trailer and they’re laid
straight.
John Hilder
Little Halden Farm was the last of Rolvenden’s hop gardens, their final hop picking was in 2004. It also has the honour of being the last anthracite fired oast house to operate commercially in England.
Little Halden has been farmed by the Hilder family since the 1850s. Jonathan Hilder’s great-great-grandfather began the farming of hops which, at the time, were as exciting and profitable as vineyards are today. This wonderful collection of black and white photographs taken by Mr Lawrence Funnell of the final hop picking is a fitting closing chapter to Rolvenden’s rich hopping history.
ROLVENDEN HISTORY GROUP
