TQ8222 : Morley Farm Oast, Beckley Road, Northiam, East Sussex
taken 16 years ago, near to Mill Corner, East Sussex, England
Two round kiln oast house. Totally rebuilt sometime around 2005. An aerial photograph from 2004 shows the building derelict, much of the stowage missing and with brick kiln roofs, rather than the tiled roofs seen here. The clean brick and tiles have yet tone down and bed in to the environment.
The original brick kiln roofs indicate the building was built after 1850 when the brick tax was dropped, before this time, brick use was kept to the kiln walls and the lower walls of the stowage, unless the farmer was particularly wealthy. In certain areas, walls were made of ragstone or lime stone.
The oast house is featured on the cover of "From The Oasthouse" The Alan Partridge podcast.
An Oast House is a building used to dry fresh hops before they are sent to the brewers, to be used for flavouring beer. A traditional Oast House consists of the 'oast' and the 'stowage'. The oast was a kiln, with a plenum chamber fired by charcoal at ground floor and the drying floor directly above. The steep pitched roof channelled the hot air through the hops to the top. The stowage, was the barn section, it had a cooling floor and press at first floor and storage area at ground floor. Read more Link