The Maltings of Former Hardy and Hanson Brewery, Kimberley, Nottinghamshire

Description

1570/0/10020
05-NOV-08

KIMBERLEY
HARDY STREET
The Maltings of Former Hardy and Hanson Brewery

Maltings. Erected in 1861 and designed by William Grace for the former Hardy's Brewery

MATERIALS: Red brick with slate coverings to the kiln and growing floor roofs. Some parts of the latter have been replaced by C20 corrugated sheeting.

EXTERIOR: The malting kilns stands on Hardy Street with each of the four kilns occupying two bays of the road frontage range. The bays are delineated by plain pilasters and give a panel and pier appearance to the Hardy Street elevation. A further four bays extend north-westwards beyond the kiln range, its northern gable now modified and its upper part clad in corrugated sheeting. The kilns have barred openings to their upper level, and entrances to cellars at ground level, through which fuel for the kilns could be unloaded. The growing floor ranges extend at right angles south-westwards from the kilns, and comprise two parallel ranges - there are two kilns for each range. Each range is three stories high and eight full bays in length, with half bays to either end and a further full bay at the south-west end, below a gabled hoist canopy. Each bay has tiered openings to all floors, some have now been blocked or modified in size, but the pattern of the original disposition of openings can still be clearly seen. A loading bay has been constructed against the south-west elevation, together with a wide canopy to the right of centre. To the left of this is an inserted first floor double doorway and access stair.

INTERIOR: Internally the kilns and growing floors are little altered, and are of conventional form, with low floor-to ceiling heights, and long timber bridging beams of pine (one with an export mark dated 1857) supported on two rows of slender metal columns set on padstones. The front and rear wall openings have wooden horizontal sliding shutters, which allow some regulation of the air flow across the growing floors. The stairs are at the south-west end of the growing floors, as were the former barley steeps, which survive in part. The kilns are little altered structurally, and retain their furnaces within furnace cellars. The drying floors are formed of perforated ceramic tiles supported on webs of metal beams. One pair of kilns has a dividing wall between the drying floor areas; the other is a double kiln with an in-situ mechanical grain turner.

HISTORY: Kimberley was the home to two major brewery developments in the late C19, and the surviving brewery buildings remain a major presence in the heart of the settlement. The development of the brewing industry at Kimberley began in 1846 when Stephen Hanson and a local maltster, John Tomlinson built a new brewery in the town. In 1861, William and Thomas Hardy commissioned the architect William Grace of Burton upon Trent to design a new 'ten quarter brewery' with maltings, brewhouse, ale bottling and cask filling cellars, wine and spirit stores, workshops, cooperage, offices and stables. It is the maltings built as part of this site that is the building in question here. The two brewery sites continued to develop and expand throughout the C19 and early C20. A notable phase of development occurred in 1876, when a new range of floor maltings, designed by a Mr Bailey of Newark, were added to Hardy's Brewery. Later, in 1882, a new range of brewery buildings designed by Robert Grace were built on the four acre site, including new fermenting rooms, a large malt store, a new aerated water plant, offices, brewers' laboratory and workshops for carpenters, wheelwrights and blacksmiths. In 1880, the Midland Railway opened a line through Kimberley, and both breweries developed private sidings. In 1890, a new enlarged Hanson's Brewery was completed, adjacent to the Hardy's site, to the designs of the specialist brewery architect William Bradford, with a 6 storey brewery tower as its centrepiece. The two breweries remained as competitors until 1930 when they merged, and soon afterwards, in 1932, brewing ceased on the Hanson site. Further development of the Hardy site continued throughout the C20, as demands for different products were met, and brewing technology changed in response to the demand for keg beer. The Hardy's brewery maltings remained in production until the mid- C20 and was then adapted for other uses. In 1973 the core buildings of Hanson's Brewery were demolished, leaving a small number of minor buildings on the periphery of the site. As explained above, the purchase of Hardy and Hanson's by the Greene King company was followed by the cessation of brewing and the closure of the site in 2006.

SOURCES: Patrick A. The Strategy for the Historic Industrial Environment Report (SHIER) Maltings In England (English Heritage)2004

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:

The maltings at the former Hardy and Hanson's Brewery at Kimberley in Nottinghamshire is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is a well-preserved late C19 example of a traditional floor maltings built as part of an integrated brewery complex, and retaining clear evidence of all stages in the production of malt for brewing.

* The maltings retains the robust and distinctive architectural features which have characterised the building type throughout its historic phases of development from the C17 to the C20.

* The building is the most important survival from a noted brewery, located in a town (and county) renowned for its brewing history.

Reasons for Listing

The maltings at the former Hardy and Hanson's Brewery at Kimberley in Nottinghamshire is designated for listing at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* The maltings retains the robust and distinctive architectural features which have characterised the building type throughout its historic phases of development from the C17 to the C20.

* The complex retains the majority of the characteristic interior features of a floor maltings , including its growing floors supported by rows of columns, and 4 malt kilns with perforated tile drying floors, furnaces and cellars.
* The building is the most important survival from a noted brewery, located in a town (and county) renowned for its brewing history

External Links

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