The Buildings of the Malting Industry

The production of malt from prehistory to the 21st century

By Amber Patrick

Published 15 November 2023

Malt is one of the main ingredients of beer, yet the buildings in which it was and is now produced have received very little attention, although most towns and many villages had their own malthouse and kiln.

This is the first book to address the paucity of detail on maltings which historically were to be found in all English counties. Today evidence for a malthouse may just be a name on a building or street. However, where they survive the pyramidal roofs clearly demonstrate the presence of a malthouse as do other less recognisable features.

This book gives details of early malt kilns and shows how they changed over the centuries. Early buildings were essentially vernacular ones but by the mid-19th century, some firms were using specialist architects. Then in the 20th century, there was more engineering input to new maltings, in particular with the development of the pneumatic process. This once widespread industry is now mainly confined to the eastern side of the country. Elsewhere surviving maltings have been converted to other uses and examples of these are given.

There are illustrations of the exteriors and interiors of malthouses and kilns which show some of the developments and how some buildings have been reused.

Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: The early evidence for maltings
Chapter 2: The development of malthouses and malt kilns to the end of the 17th century
Chapter 3: The 18th century and the survival of recognisable kilns
Chapter 4: The 19th Century to 1870
Chapter 5: The 19th Century from 1870
Chapter 6: The Twentieth Century up to 1960
Chapter 7: The Twentieth Century from the 1960s and Modern Malting
Chapter 8: The Reusing of Maltings – throughout their History
Postscript
Glossary
Weights and Measures
Appendix 1: The Malting Process
Appendix 1A: Malthouse Layouts
Appendix 2: Patents, Architects and Engineers
Bibliography
Notes