Belhaven Brewery, Brewery Lane, Belhaven, Dunbar

Belhaven Brewery, Brewery Lane, Belhaven, Dunbar

Founded in 1719 and rebuilt and enlarged in 1814 and 1887, this brewery possibly incorporates 18th century vaults and fragments. The complex comprises former maltings, kilns, and brewhouse, with brick additions dating from the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The Maltings, probably dating to 1814, form a substantial 4 by 4 bay, 3-storey sandstone rubble block with triple piended pantiled roofs and slate easing course. Windows follow a 4-pane glazing pattern. The north front features a dated lintel of 1887 on the westernmost doorway, with an enlarged entrance in the second bay to the east. The ground floor door has been altered to a window and the third floor hoist door is blocked. The east side displays asymmetrical ground floor openings with a door to the left of the final bay to the north. A timber-clad, gabletted and slated hoist projects from the second bay, probably relocated from a central position in 1887. The south side is similar and is abutted by a rubble-built piend-roofed intermediary block with a lean-to modern brick extension connecting the maltings to the kilns.

The interior contains 5 by 5 rows of stout cast-iron columns with sockets for timber beams, replaced around 1900 by steel girders. The final bay to the east retains a later concrete floor; elsewhere timber collar beam roofs are present.

The Kilns comprise three square-plan sandstone rubble kilns of varying 19th century dates. The south and southwest ones were raised in 1887. The north kiln has a timber roof and grilled drying floor on wrought-iron tension rods. The south kiln is entered through a re-entrant angle. The southwest kiln has a bull-nose rendered above the base. The north and south kilns feature slated pyramid roofs tapering to funnel shapes with leaded ventilator caps. The southwest kiln has a piended pantile roof with slate eaves easing course to the east and a tall timber ventilator tower at the ridge intersection to the south.

Vaulted cellars between the southwest kiln and maltings contain two painted rubble vaults, possibly of 18th century date, with low curved chambers. A higher, wider brick vault to the south is dated 1814 on a block above the former outer gable skew. Upper floors and roof have been subsequently altered.

The Productive Buildings of 1887 form a gabled brick block with roofs at four different levels, running east-west and abutting the earlier maltings to the east. The pantiled roof features slate eases easing course at intervals.

The Brewhouse forms the north front of 6 bays with the 2 centre bays raised to 3-storey height. Two gabletted slated dormers break the eaves to the west, one a former loft opening retaining a pulley above. Openings below are varied and altered. To its west stands the Boiler/Engine House at full height with louvred ventilators with pyramidal caps to the ridge and south lower slope, featuring an inverted mansard roof. A cast-iron rectangular water tank sits above the central roof to the south. A circular section brick chimney stack on a square section pedestal rises from the roof slope in red brick with yellow fire brick above and a cornice. The brewhouse interior contains a copper and timber mash tun at the west end and fermenting tanks to the east.

The Office, dating to the early 19th century, is a single-storey sandstone rubble structure with a late 19th century brick addition to the north featuring ashlar dressings. The original office has a mullioned window to the south with a small-pane glazing pattern and a doorway to the east. The north addition features a 4-centred arch lintel and decorative leaded glazing pattern. The roofing is pantiled with slate easing course, pyramidal over the original and piended over the extension. The original office interior has a coomb ceiling and plaster rose with pilasters to the window mullions.

The Joiner's Shop, an early 19th century rectangular sandstone rubble block probably originally used as stables, features a variety of openings, many altered or blocked. The west entrance front has a window and wide door to the north and a door to the south. The east front has a window to the south with further windows flanking a slated, gabled hayloft and a blocked brick former door below. A brick lean-to with corrugated-iron roof extends to the north end. The north gable has large machinery doors. The interior has a cobbled floor and timber ceiling with multi-pane glazing pattern, and a pantiled piend roof.

The Maintenance Workshop, an early 19th century T-plan sandstone rubble mill building, has a later brick lean-to extension to the east incorporating an early wall on the north. The west gable is blank with a lade below. The north side has two doorways with ashlar lintels, the wider one featuring a semi-lugged architrave. The original block has a pantiled piend roof and a brick stack.