Malthouse To Rear Of No. 18

Malthouse to rear of no. 18 Hart Street, Henley on Thames

A range of maltings buildings dating from the late 17th and early 18th centuries through to the later 19th century, including a mid-19th century kiln and ranges of malt floors from the later 18th and early to mid-19th centuries.

The northern range is timber-framed, rendered and painted, with the east wall largely replaced in brick, and has plaintile roofs. The kiln is constructed in red brick in alternating courses of header and stretcher bond, with a steep-pitched pyramidal slate roof whose apex has been replaced. The cistern and malt floor ranges are built of flint and red, brown or grey brick, with the north wall of the cistern range partly rebuilt in brick and the southern range of malt floors in red brick in alternating courses of header and stretcher bond, with plaintile roofs.

The maltings lie to the rear of 18 Hart Street, accessed through a cart entrance under the lower block fronting Hart Street, to the east of the house. The malt floor ranges are also accessible from the open yard to the rear of 16 Hart Street. The buildings comprise a two-storey block of four bays, a kiln, former cisterns and two-storey ranges of malt floors extending back into the former burgage plot.

The exposed west wall of the northern range is rendered with a 20th century inserted entrance, while the remainder is enclosed by the timber-framed wing of the adjacent plot. The east wall is largely 20th century brick with 20th century windows. The kiln has small segmental-headed window openings and a later doorway. The cistern range to the east has a partly rebuilt north wall and rendered south wall. The malt floors are arranged in three two-storey sections separated by parapets at the gables. Two are built of flint with brick dressings, while the southern range is in brick; all have a brick dentil course punctuated by a range of first floor openings. Regularly spaced ground floor door and window openings have segmental heads with fixed lights. Loading bays have been enlarged or inserted in the 20th century. Timber transverse beams supporting the floors break through the east walls. The southern range, which has a hipped roof, also features loading doors and a hoist on the south elevation where there is a date stone inscribed 'MK 1766'. The initials appear to have been added at a later date. The stone is earlier than the building and, in common with other maltings in Henley, is used to denote ownership.

The interior of the northern range features exposed timber frame on the upper floor and part of the lower floor. Transverse beams of varying types, some probably reused as was common practice, have chamfers with run-out and lamb's tongue stops. The corner stack has exposed brick piers. Set into the right-hand side is a cupboard with a panelled door hung on butterfly hinges. The roof is of queen strut construction, with some of the tie beams retaining their arched braces. The interior of the kiln has been re-lined for 20th century office use. At eaves height is an inserted longitudinal beam with the base of an iron shaft mounted in the centre. In 1899 Brakspears' maltsters used a mechanical paddle for turning the grain, and this may relate to such equipment.

To the east of the kiln is a brick and flint building on two storeys in eight unequal bays. The floor is supported on very substantial timbers of approximately 30 centimetres scantling, spaced approximately 2 metres apart and presumed to have supported the couching cisterns, which have been removed. The former entrance opened onto the enclosed yard at the rear of 18 Hart Street.

The malt floor ranges have substantial floors supported on regularly-spaced rectangular 30 centimetre section beams, themselves supported on brick piers; the beams protrude through the outer brick or flint walls.

Henley has a long history associated with malting and hop-drying. Malting was practised on a scale similar to the process described by Gervase Markham in the early 17th century. Maltings were commonly laid out at the rear of burgage plots, as seen in the buildings which survive at the rear of 18 Hart Street and shown on the 1877 conveyancing plan for 55, 57 and 59 Market Place. Typically the kiln was attached to the rear of the house, with maltings laid out behind. According to Dr Plot, quoted in 1861 in the History of Henley by John S Burn, kilns were sometimes fuelled by the same fire that served the kitchen.

18 Hart Street is a substantial mid-18th century three-storey, six-bay house, described as an early-18th century façade to an older building (listed Grade II*). The tenant of the house between 1737 and 1749 was a butcher, suggesting that either the maltings were built after this date or that they were held separately from the house. In common with other maltings in Henley, the southernmost building in the range carries a datestone on the south gable wall dated 1766 and inscribed MK, the lettering possibly added at a later date. Mr Keene is recorded as maltster in 1775. The Royal Exchange Insurance Register, dated 25 October 1787, refers to the contents of Mr Hugh Keene's house and the equipment and stock in trade of his maltings business, which comprised a malthouse, granaries, storehouses and offices. The buildings were described as brick and stone timber panelled with brick (brick-nogged), except for part of the granaries and part of the upper part of a woodhouse which are timber built and tiled.

18 Hart Street was advertised for let in 1798 along with a good malthouse which would wet 39 quarters per week, and granaries and storehouses. By 1862 the maltings comprised a malthouse 90 feet in length, two working floors, a 15-quarter cistern, barley and malt lofts, a screening room and every other convenience for an extensive trade. Beyond the maltings were stabling, a piggery, sheds and a walled garden well stocked with fruit trees. The maltings continued in use until the end of the 19th century. The plot was sold as a family residence together with valuable malthouse premises in 1898, which comprised a 30-quarter malthouse and kiln, large barley and malt lofts and stores and offices. By 1931, when the house and maltings buildings were sold as business premises by an antique dealer, the latter were advertised as showrooms and stores. More recently the buildings have been used as engineering works and as a night club.