Hop kilns near Ledbury

What are known as oast houses in Kent are, apparently, called hop kilns in Herefordshire. The photograph above shows two hop kilns (one behind the other in this view) adjoining Kiln Cottage near Frith Wood, Ledbury. The purpose of oast houses/hop kilns was to dry the hops grown for beer-making which are then sent to the brewery. Today this is done in machines and the distinctive buildings that formerly punctuated the landscape in hop growing areas have fallen into disuse or been converted into additional living accomodation. The examples above are now picturesque parts of a cottage that may well have originally been a functional building associated with hops. The spring woodland is showing a variety of subtle colours and the prominent mistletoe ball, above the cottage's gable end, that has been revealed all winter will soon be hidden by leaves.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Oast House (or hop kiln)

Wall Hills House, near Ledbury, Herefordshire, is a former farm. The house is Georgian and nearby outbuildings include a cruck-framed medieval barn and a circular oast house. Both the barn and the oast house with its adjoining brick barns fell into disuse as farming changed, but it is good that they remain for us to see today. An oast house is a building designed for the drying of hops that are to be used in beer making. They can be square, oblong or circular and all have a characteristic pointed roof with a cowl. In Herefordshire, where hops are still grown in the Hereford-Ledbury-Bromyard triangle and the Teme Valley, oast houses are often called hop kilns. The oast house (or hop kiln) and attendant barns in the photograph haven't suffered the fate of many i.e. being turned into a desirable country residence.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2