Maltings And Kiln Number 1, Mistley Quay Handling And Forwarding Company Limited

Maltings and Kiln Number 1, Mistley Quay

This is an imposing malthouse dating from circa 1896, built for Free, Rodwell and Company Ltd. It stands on Mistley Quay with the ironwork executed by J.R.M. Fitch of Lawford Ironworks. The building is constructed in red brick with gault dressings and has double-range grey slate roofs.

The structure presents eight storeys to the quayside and five storeys to High Street. The attached kiln to the east has a tall pyramidal roof. The lower storeys of the kiln act as a buttress to the High Street frontage and measure twenty-five feet wide, while the five upper storeys are fifty-six feet wide. The kiln comprises three bays, while the main Maltings comprises seventeen bays separated by pilasters. The facades are articulated with four dentilled and moulded bands and a parapet band. The gable ends are similar, featuring two bays with central pilasters extending to the gable apices and cornices.

Originally the building was fitted with segmental-headed louvred three-light ventilator openings to each bay and storey. Four 20th-century windows have since been inserted to the fifth storey of both the High Street and Mistley Quay faces, along with some loading doors. Three bays break forward to both facades with panelled parapets; the High Street bays feature semi-circular arches to the top floor. To the east of these three bays is a cast iron hoist loft supported by iron columns, with projecting shaft and pulley wheel.

The interior retains most of its red quarry tiled floors. Cast iron support pillars with moulded capitals are present on each floor. The kiln features a cast iron mesh floor, cast iron turner, and cast iron kiln doors. Cast iron self-emptying steeping tanks and cast iron scales labelled W & Avery, Birmingham survive. A driving shaft with wheels and chute serves the kiln. A small office unit was enclosed in 1967, and ground floor rooms are used for storage.

During the 1850s, the malting industry in Mistley involved many partnerships. In 1883, Robert Free, William Hunter Rodwell, Robert E. Free and E.N. Heneage consolidated their interests to form Free, Rodwell and Company Ltd., which eventually operated four maltings. Number 1 was reconstructed in 1896, Number 5 was built the following year but burned to the ground in 1898. Despite this loss, the company built Number 6 before the end of the century and Number 7 by 1904. Robert Free published a pamphlet in 1888 announcing the installation of self-emptying steeping cisterns, wedgewire kilns with Blackman's air propeller, malt storage for a season's making, and mechanical conveyors for raw barley and finished malt. He emphasised the need for large storage capacity to accommodate the concentrated harvest period from September to November.

Free's advanced technological ideas were executed in cast iron by J.R.M. Fitch, formerly Bendall of Lawford Ironworks in Manningtree, now demolished. Fitch died in 1902 and his son in 1928. Their successor, Mr. I. Garwood, later introduced new features including power shovels to load and unload kilns and turners. Around 1961, Dr. Sandegrin of Sweden developed gibberellic acid, which sped up the steeping process from five days to three days. This company is believed to be the first to use this method commercially.

The building now stands empty apart from a small area on the fifth floor used as offices by Mistley Quay Handling and Forwarding Company Limited.