Hulkes Lane Brewery Buildings

Former Brewery Buildings, Hulkes Lane, Maidstone

This former brewery is the result of piecemeal rebuilding and extension from the 18th century, possibly earlier, through to the end of the 19th century.

The complex is built predominantly of brick, yellow and red from different phases, with some structural timber-framing and ironwork. The roofs are mainly clay tile, with some corrugated sheet material. Doors are timber and windows are a mix of timber and iron.

The complex is situated immediately to the rear of 351 High Street, the mansion house associated with the brewery. The various parts are accessed from Hulkes Lane, which runs north to south between the High Street to the south and the River Medway to the north. There is a notable fall in land levels from the High Street to the river's edge, and also variety in floor and basement levels between the various built elements of the site.

The northernmost part of the complex is the building added by Arkcoll in around 1880 and known by its later function as the bonded warehouse. This is roughly square in plan, faces onto Hulkes Lane and has two storeys over a semi-basement level.

Hard between the rear of the mansion and the side of the bonded warehouse is an amalgam of structures built against each other. At the centre of this, entirely enclosed by later structures, is the earliest building of the brewery complex, the malt store. The building stands at a slight north-east to south-west skew in relation to the plot. It is square in plan, formed of two parallel ranges divided by a spine wall under pitched roofs. Each range is partially open to the underside of the roof, with central walkways overhead.

To the south-west of the malt store is the tun room, originally seeming to be a detached building and possibly dating to the late 18th century. It has two storeys and two parallel hipped roofs running east to west. The northernmost of the two roofs is met by the north to south pitched roof of the adjoining ale store, a slightly wedge-shaped range to the immediate west of the malt store. The ale store is later than the tun room but probably not significantly so.

To the east of the malt store is the 1837 brewery. This is another slightly wedge-shaped range, tall, with four storeys and a pitched roof running north to south with a squat, tower-like element to the north. To the south of the 1837 brewery is the late 19th-century Lion Brewery office, which has a single storey plus basement. The roof is pitched behind a partial parapet.

To the south of the malt store, between the tun room to the west and brewery office to the east, is the cooperage. This is a two-storey building with no external walls, infilling what was an open space between the earlier structures and spanned by a wide pitched roof with large opposing dormers either side of the north to south ridge. Its first floor is supported from below by iron columns.

To the north of the malt store is the hoist room. This is a small wedge-shaped range with two storeys over what would have been an open loading bay at ground floor, now enclosed to form a ground-floor room. Its roof is pitched, running east to west, with a ridge lantern at the west end.

Some of the structures are enclosed on all sides so are visible externally only from above. All structures show evidence of phased change internally and externally, so detailed study and recording will reveal more about the evolution of the site, changing functions and brewing processes. A number are known to have, or are very likely to have, replaced earlier buildings on the site, making it possible that there is fragmentary survival of earlier fabric incorporated into substantively later phases. Both outside and inside there are instances of sign writing, on or over doors and on walls. These may relate to both brewery and subsequent uses. The following descriptions move from south to north along Hulkes Lane, then to Ship Lane, and then to those parts which have no visible exteriors at street level.

The brewery office is a small, single-storey, late 19th-century corner building which partially overlaps the rear wing of the mansion. To the south (towards the High Street) and around the corner entrance, it has a parapet and is stuccoed, with moulded and incised decoration around the windows. Over the entrance is the name "Lion Brewery". Just beyond the corner entrance, to the north, was the gateway into the brewery site. Beyond the site of the gate the building's east-facing elevation is plain painted brick. Windows are tall sashes.

The 1837 brewery is a tall yellow brick building with painted ground floor. The east elevation has a parapet and blind arcading dividing it into five bays by giant pilasters. Fenestration is irregular, with windows showing evidence of being secondary insertions, and brickwork indicating the infilling of earlier openings. The interior has been substantially rebuilt.

The hoist room is gable-fronted and is a single bay wide. The yellow brickwork appears contiguous with the neighbouring bonded warehouse. There is a single window at first and second floor with red brick segmental and arched heads respectively, and an oculus in the gable. The upper floors of the elevation are supported on a steel lintel. The ground floor has been enclosed by a later recessed brick wall. The floors are unsubdivided internally and connect through to the malt store to the south. The second floor has overhead steelwork and elements relating to a hoist mechanism.

The bonded warehouse is of yellow brick with red brick dressings. It has two storeys over a lower-ground floor and is formed of two parallel ranges, each under a wide pitched roof with gable end facing onto Hulkes Lane. The roof to the north drops down to a catslide. Windows are iron-framed under red brick segmental or arched heads with oculi in the gables. The central two bays of the south range project forward, possibly originally a stair tower, now housing a goods lift. The window openings have been bricked up. The building's ground floor is slightly raised and is accessed from a deck on brick piers, sheltered by a simple wooden veranda. This is a later arrangement but must have replaced an earlier alternative given the height of the main entrance. The rear elevation faces onto Ship Lane and is very plain with some blocked and some inserted window openings. Internally, the ground and first floors are jack-arched, supported on iron columns. Internal subdivision is later. There is an enclosed timber stair in the south-east corner.

The ale store and tun room are visible externally only from Ship Lane, which runs parallel to Hulkes Lane to the west. They are of red brick with a dentillated eaves course. There are areas of both Flemish and English bond in the brickwork and evidence of patching and alteration. The elevations are largely blind. The upper floor of the tun room is spanned by a full-height A-frame truss. It is unclear whether this is a reinforcement or the remains of an internal structure relating to an historic use. The floor appears to be a later insertion, supported by steel joists borne on inserted brick piers. There are various blocked and redundant openings in the walls. The ground floor appears to be the result of later excavation.

The ale store is enclosed at its south end by the original external north wall of the tun room. Its east wall above ground level is the timber framed wall of the malt store. The floor is carried on timber beams with iron supports against the walls, suggesting that it is secondary. There are blocked openings to north and south. The ground floor appears to be the result of later excavation.

The cooperage dates from the late 19th century and occupies an area that was previously partly open. It has two levels, the lower of which is unlit, and may have been partly excavated to achieve the current floor level. The floor above is supported by cast iron columns and brick piers that stand within the enclosing walls, which belong to the adjoining buildings. There is a timber king-post roof, with large dormers to east and west.

The malt store comprises two parallel two-storey ranges. The upper storey is timber-framed (in softwood), the lower level of brick. Some timber-framed elements, such as the north and part of the south walls, have been replaced by the brickwork of later additions, and some of the timberwork elsewhere is later. Three storage chambers (or bins) survive substantially intact, lined with painted boarding of various types and with zinc linings to the ceilings and between the floorboards for protection from vermin. Narrow timber walkways in the roof spaces are presumed to have allowed the chambers to be filled from above. There are small openings at low level and in the doors presumably for accessing the contents, although it has also been suggested that the latter might be for cats. The northern end of the block has been altered. There is a timber stair and it has been partially ceiled-over.