Maltings at Jennings Brewery, Castle Brewery

Maltings at Jennings Brewery, Castle Brewery

A malthouse and barley kiln of 1889 associated with Jennings Brewery, architect unknown.

Built from rock-faced red sandstone with dressed quoins and matching window and door surrounds, the building sits beneath slate roofs. It follows an L-shaped plan.

The east gable elevation is of four bays and features a modern double door entrance beneath a modern canopy, with a double ground-floor access door to the right. The left corner is recessed to ground and first-floor level to allow easier vehicle passage along Brewery Lane. The south elevation comprises six bays with two doors at ground floor and a timber pitched-roof hoist housing on the upper floor that projects outwards and rises above the roof line. A stair tower has a door on its south face and windows on its east face only. The kiln tower has windows on the ground floor and two of the upper floors only, with a blocked doorway at ground level. It is topped by a pyramidal roof crowned with a timbered square ventilation tower bearing 'JENNINGS' signs on three faces. The building displays a variety of window frames of different dates and styles throughout.

Internally, the multi-storey malthouse is accessed via a modern door at its east end, leading to a stairwell containing a lift shaft and a relatively modern iron staircase with wooden treads. The ground floor is currently used for barrel storage. Of the two former growing floors on the first and second floors, the first floor is now used for storage whilst the second floor remains unused. The former grain storage floors on the third floor and attic both contain inserted offices, though only those in the attic, which has roof lights, are operational. At the western end of the attic, in situ grain moving equipment survives, including line shafting, belts and wheels. The stair tower towards the western end contains stone steps with iron balusters and handrail. The kiln tower contains a brick furnace on the ground floor supporting the kiln above, which is sustained by brick vaulting strengthened by vertical iron banding. The third floor of the kiln tower has been subdivided to provide a small former Managing Director's office. The fourth floor contains a boardroom above an open space rising to the pyramid roof. A much altered single-storey former bottling plant attached to the west end is not included in the listing.

Jennings Brewery was founded in the village of Lorton, a short distance south of Cockermouth (birthplace of William Wordsworth), in 1828. By 1874 the company had moved its production into buildings on the south side of Brewery Lane in Cockermouth. The brewery expanded over the following years, and in 1889 this five-storey maltings and six-storey barley kiln were erected on the north side of Brewery Lane. The building is no longer used as a maltings. At an unspecified date the upper two floors were converted into offices, louvres were replaced with windows throughout, and a boardroom was inserted within the tower.