Reasons for Designation
List at Grade II
Details
HENLEY ON THAMES
696/0/10041 HART STREET
17-SEP-10 Malthouse to rear of no. 18
GV II
Maltings. Range of buildings dating from late C17/early C18 to later C19, including mid-C19 kiln, later C18 and early/mid C19 ranges of malt floors.
MATERIALS: Northern range: timber frame, rendered and painted, the east wall mainly replaced in brick, plaintile roofs. Kiln: red brick in alternating courses of header and stretcher bond, steep-pitched pyramidal slate roof, the apex replaced. Cistern and malt floor ranges: flint and red/brown/grey brick, north wall of cistern range partly rebuilt in brick, the southern range of malt floors in red brick in alternating courses of header and stretcher bond, plaintile roofs.
PLAN: The maltings lie to the rear of 18 Hart Street, reached through a cart entrance under the lower block fronting Hart Street, to the east of the house. The malt floor ranges are also accessible from the open yard to the rear of 16 Hart Street. In plan, the buildings comprise a two-storey block of four bays, a kiln, former cisterns and two-storey ranges of malt floors extending back into the former burgage plot.
EXTERIOR: The exposed west wall of the northern range is rendered, with a C20 inserted entrance, the reminder is enclosed by the timber-framed wing of the adjacent plot. The east wall is largely of C20 brick with C20 windows. The kiln has small segmental-headed window openings and a later doorway. The cistern range to the east has a partly rebuilt north wall and rendered south wall. The malt floors are in three, two storey sections, separated by parapets at the gables. Two are built of flint, with brick dressings, the southern range is in brick; all have a brick dentil course which is punctuated by a range of first floor openings. Regularly spaced ground floor door and window openings have segmental heads, the windows have fixed lights. Loading bays have been enlarged or inserted in the C20. Timber transverse beams, supporting the floors break through the east walls. The southern range, which has a hipped roof, also has loading doors and a hoist on the south elevation where there is a date stone inscribed 'MK 1766'. The initials appear to have been added at a later date. The stone is earlier than the building, and in common with other maltings in Henley is used to denote ownership.
INTERIOR: Northern range: the timber frame is exposed on the upper floor and part of the lower floor. Transverse beams of varying types, and some probably reused, as was common, have chamfers with run out and lamb's tongue stops. The corner stack has exposed brick piers. Set into the right-hand side is a cupboard with a panelled door hung on butterfly hinges. The roof is of queen strut construction, some of the tie beams retain their arched braces. The interior of the kiln has been re-lined for C20 office use. At eaves height is an inserted longitudinal beam with the base of an iron shaft mounted in the centre. In 1899 Brakspears' maltsters used a mechanical paddle for turning the grain and this may relate to such equipment. To the east of the kiln is a brick and flint building on two storeys, in eight unequal bays, the floor supported on very substantial timbers of 1 foot (c 30 cm) scantling, spaced approximately 7' (2m) apart and presumed to have supported the couching cisterns, which have been removed. The former entrance opened onto the enclosed yard at the rear of 18 Hart Street. The malt floor ranges have substantial floors which are supported on regularly-spaced rectangular 1 foot section beams, supported on brick piers; the beams protrude through the outer brick or flint wall.
HISTORY
Henley has a long history associated with malting and hop-drying. Malting was practised on a scale similar to the process described by Gervase Markham in the early C17. Maltings were commonly laid out at the rear of burgage plots, seen in the buildings which survive at the rear of 18 Hart Street and shown on the 1877 conveyancing plan for 55, 57 and 59 Market Place. Typically the kiln was attached to the rear of the house, with maltings laid out behind. According to Dr Plot, quoted in 1861 in the History of Henley by John S Burn, kilns were sometimes fuelled by the same fire that served the kitchen.
18 Hart Street is a substantial mid-C18 three-storey, six-bay house, described as an early-C18 facade to an older building, (listed Grade II*). The tenant of the house between 1737 and 1749 was a butcher, suggesting that either the maltings were built after this date or that they were held separately from the house. In common with other maltings in Henley, the southernmost building in the range carries a datestone on the south gable wall, in this case dated 1766, and inscribed MK, the lettering possibly added at a later date. Mr Keene is recorded as maltster in 1775. The Royal Exchange Insurance Register, dated 25 October 1787, refers to the contents of Mr Hugh Keene's house and the equipment and stock in trade of his maltings business which comprised a malthouse, granaries, storehouses and offices. The buildings were described as brick and stone timber panelled with brick (in other words, brick-nogged), `except for part of the said granaries & part of the upper part of a woodhouse which is timber built and tiled'.
18 Hart Street was advertised for let in 1798 along with a good malthouse which will wet 39 quarters per week, and granaries and storehouses. By 1862 the maltings comprised a malthouse 90 feet in length, two working floors, a 15 quarter cistern, barley and malt lofts, a screening room and every other convenience for an extensive trade'. Beyond the maltings were stabling, a piggery, sheds and a walled garden, well stocked with fruit trees. The maltings continued in use until the end of the C19. The plot was sold as a family residence together with valuable malthouse premises in 1898, which comprised a 30-quarter malthouse and kiln, large barley and malt lofts and stores and offices. By 1931, when the house and maltings buildings were sold as business premises by an antique dealer, the latter were advertised as showrooms and stores. More recently the buildings have been used as engineering works and as a night club.
SOURCES
Coltingham, A, The Hostelries of Henley,(2000), p 294.
Unpublished sources include sales particulars for 1898 and 1931(Henley Library)
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
Maltings to the rear of 18 Hart Street, Henley, dating from at least the C18 to late C19 are listed for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural: These are buildings ranging from the late C17 /early C18 to late C19 and typical of the region, demonstrate the specific functions related to malting;
* Intactness: The sequence of buildings, complete with kiln and heavy cistern and malt floors consistent with maltings demonstrate special interest.
* Rarity: the most intact range of maltings in Henley where these buildings were once numerous;
* History: the buildings relate to documentary evidence of the continued use of the maltings from the mid-C18 to late C19; malting formed a significant part of Henley's economy from at least the C17.
