The Malthouse

The Malthouse is a former maltings building, later used as a maintenance depot, which has been converted into residential flats. Built around 1875 for Benjamin Young, it was transformed into 23 retirement flats in 1987 and then into an elderly persons rest house in 1990, designed by the architects Wakefield Poyser Partnership. The building is constructed of yellow stock brick laid in Flemish bond, featuring a dark stained weatherboarded cowl.

The exterior consists of three storeys and attics, originally four floors, measuring 111 feet in length and 40 feet in width, with a 76-foot cistern and a 35-foot kiln. The main maltings range has six bays, with four rows of openings below featuring segmental arches; three of these now have 20th-century wood casement windows, while one is blank with recesses due to changes in internal floor levels. The attic is now illuminated by 20th-century roof lights. The kiln house is divided by brick buttresses and has largely 20th-century casement windows in new openings with segmental arches. To the left, the former malt store is two storeys with attics and is mostly a 20th-century reconstruction, clad in dark stained weatherboard.

The interior has been completely remodelled during the conversion, reducing the four levels of malting floors to three, while an attic has been added. The kiln furnaces were removed during this conversion.