Type of building:
Brew house
Listing:
Grade ll
Plan and elevation:
A single pile, single unit structure on two storeys, being a brewery on the first
floor and a storage area on the ground floor. Situated in the yard of a public
house.
Summary of the probable main building
history:
Early 19th Century.
Brewhouse - south elevation
Exterior:
Ashlar block construction. Access to the ground floor is via wide doors off a
passage covered by the first floor. This passage also gives access to the rear
car park of the public house. First floor access is via external stone steps from
the yard. No windows apparent in the entire building although a loading/discharge
opening protected by wooden shutters is on the south wall at first floor level
overlooking the yard. Against this south wall and an adjacent west wall there
are ashlar block single-storey lean-tos under tiled cat slide roofs. Access to
these is obtainable from the covered passage via a corridor running under the
steps which lead to the first floor of the main structure. The main structure
is under a cat slide roof but due to extensive vine growth the nature of the roofing
material could not be determined but the depressed outlines of a possible former
skylight lighting the first floor is discernible. There is a chimney stack (vine
covered) on the east gable wall.
Interior:
First floor brew house unlit by either natural or artificial light except for
the light admitted by the entry and the loading opening when not closed by wooden
shutters. Possibility of a former skylight, which not apparent on the interior
due to the roof felting. Restricted headroom by the north wall due to slope of
the cat-slide roof. Wooden flooring.
The following notes have been prepared with the advice of Mr. Mike Bone
Main interest is the almost complete beer brewing equipment which still survives consisting of furnace (boiler removed), oval mash tun with mash stick or oar, cooler (labelled "No. 1C"), fermenting vessel (labelled "FV1"), chute, collecting vessel (labelled "CLC No.1") and wooden stand near the entry to support the brewer's book. The heavy equipment lies on massive wooden floor beams.
A malt shovel is on display in the public house and a mid 20th Century extension covers a well which was formerly in the yard and may have supplied the water for the brewery in its early years .
Date & development:
The public house (not measured) is a conversion of two single pile 2-storey mid
mixed terrace cottages of early 19th Century construction. The cottages were in
domestic occupation at least up to 1840 (per Tithe Map and Apportionment Schedule).
The brewery is then probably late 19th Century in date, probably as a conversion
of an existing structure as shown on the Tithe Map. Brewing at the public house
ceased in 1960 to end the tradition of pub brewing in the Bath area (Bone p.129
and 130). The equipment (hand operated) was producing about 300 gallons of beer
per batch in the early 20th Century (Bevan p.16). A glass advertising sign formerly
gas lit and of apparent late 19th Century date, hangs outside the public house
advertising home brewed beer.
References and bibliography:
- Batheaston Tithe Map and Apportionment Schedule 1840 Somerset Record Office
- "The Rise and Fall of Bath's Breweries: 1736-1960" Mike Bone in
"Bath History Vol Vlll 2000"
- ed. Brenda Buchanan Bath Archaeological Trust and Millstream Books 2000
- Article by Ada Bevan in "Village Life 1883-1940 : Batheaston Remembers"
ed. B.M. Willmott Dobbie The Batheaston Society 1976
Reference Pictures
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 |
 |
| Mash
tun |
Collecting
vessel |
Collecting
vessel |
 |
 |
 |
| Brewers
book stand |
Brewery
cooler |
Reconstructed
well |
Survey Drawings
 |
 |
 |
| Ground
Plan |
First
Floor Plan (Brewery) |
Section |
