Anchor Marine Stores (Malting And Kiln Of Warwick'S Anchor Brewery)

A malting and kiln, later converted into shops, offices, and stores, dating from around 1850 and constructed in two phases. The building is of red/brown brick in English bond, with a gritstone ramp and a grey slate roof. It is three storeys high with a basement, approximately three bays wide, with a square, two-storey kiln attached to the south-east end.

The south-west side of the main range has a main entrance on the first floor, accessed via a stone loading platform, with loading doors above. Board doors provide access to the basement area. Small square windows are located on the second and third storeys, featuring cambered header-brick arches. Third-floor windows are set under the eaves. A loading door is located on the far left of the third floor, with a gable above the eaves line. The kiln to the right has an original central board door, now accessed through a lean-to addition. It retains a conical flue built into the brickwork, with repairs at the top and a missing cowl.

Inside the main range are floors supported by cast-iron girders and slender cast-iron columns manufactured by C Corcoran, of 31 Mark Lane (probably Leeds). The kiln's floors are missing. On the first floor of the kiln, a wall connecting it to the main range has a large doorway flanked by smaller openings, all with iron doors. Similar smaller openings, now boarded up, are present on the other three sides. Garage doors were inserted into the south-east side during the mid-20th century.

The malting process involved spreading wetted barley on the floors of the main range, turning and ventilating it for several days before drying it gently in the kiln. The kiln comprised a ground-floor furnace room and a drying room above; warm air was drawn through the flue. The malted barley was then transferred to the brewery.

The building was used by Warwick and Co’s Anchor Brewery. New brewery buildings were built immediately north-west of the maltings in 1856, and a larger malting was constructed around 1875 across the railway line to the north. Considered the oldest surviving building of its type in the county, it forms a group with the tower brewery and later kiln and maltings.