The Old Brewery Including Adjoining Malthouse And Brewery Cottage

The Old Brewery comprises a house, cottage, and former malthouse, all dating primarily to the 18th century. The malthouse, disused, bears a stone plaque above the door, dated and initialled ‘I Wood/1769’. The house is likely of similar date, while the brewery cottage may be early 18th century.

The malthouse is constructed from large, coursed dressed blocks on the ground floor, with a mixture of rubble and larger blocks above, and has concrete tile and stone slate roofing. The house is built of coursed squared and dressed limestone with a stone slate roof. The buildings are arranged in a complex plan, with the malthouse situated north of an 'L' shaped house. A 20th-century lean-to and flat-roofed extension to the right of the house are not considered part of the special interest. Brewery Cottage is set into the east-facing gable end of the house.

The malthouse is two and a half storeys high. It has two-light casements to the middle floor, and two single-pane lights to the upper floor facing the road. A central plank door is located in the gable end, with a shuttered window towards the apex. There are three doors, one above the other, set back on the right gable end. A former well and entrance to a kiln room are on the right side, now incorporated into a 20th-century garage with a flat-roofed room above.

The house projects forward to the right and has two storeys with irregular fenestration featuring 2- and 3-light, flat-chamfered, stone-mullioned casements. A band runs horizontally between the ground and first floors. A 20th-century gabled porch shelters a 19th-century four-panelled part-glazed door. A similar 20th-century porch is situated far right, the former doorway now blocked.

The brewery cottage has a rectangular plan and a 20th-century flat-roofed extension at the front (of no special interest). It also features a two-light casement to the right, with a roll-cross saddle at the right gable end.

Inside the malthouse, the ground floor and top floor are concrete, with a plank intermediary floor. The ground floor was used for spreading barley after soaking, which was then hoisted to the top floor for sprouting. The sprouted barley was then moved to a ventilated floor above the drying kiln (both still in situ), before being transferred to the adjacent brewhouse. Original roof trusses are visible in the malthouse roof, with collars curved upwards at the centre. The buildings formerly functioned as part of Combe’s Brewery, which ceased operation in 1928.