In the Hop Garden

[rpadam]

Most of the oasts featured so far have been two-storey structures, but this fine building has three storeys (probably with a separate stowage above a middle cooling floor).

Of course, the roundels only have two storeys below their conical roofs; the kilns at ground level and the drying floors above.

[rpadam]

This is another type of oast, of which there are several local examples, with a substantial stowage building that a modern-day developer might call a 2½-storey design (with an almost windowless upper level).
(1) (2) (3)
However, as you walk round the end, the whole appearance of the building changes dramatically, with the stowage obscured by a total of five round kilns (having particularly tall and sharply pointed roofs in this case, which somehow remind me of a fairy-tale French chateaux).
(4) (5)
NB - Old Ordnance Survey maps only show three kilns, and you can just about make out that the two later additions furthest from the camera in picture (5) are built from a redder shade of brick. However, the building form suggests that the original building just had the pair of kilns shown in picture (4), an impression reinforced by the middle one in picture (5) seeming to have slightly darker roof tiles.

[rpadam]

This pleasingly symmetrical mid-19th century oast with three roundels on each long side of a central three-storey stowage was obviously planned for a high throughput from the start, rather than having extra kilns added over time.

The design must have worked well, because there are at least three other examples elsewhere in the same parish...
far distance, centre
an easier one to photograph;
left-hand oast, partly hidden behind trees (with another, smaller oast to its right)

[oldboots]

This pleasingly symmetrical mid-19th century oast with three roundels on each long side of a central three-storey stowage was obviously planned for a high throughput from the start, rather than having extra kilns added over time.

The design must have worked well, because there are at least three other examples elsewhere in the same parish...
far distance, centre
an easier one to photograph;
left-hand oast, partly hidden behind trees (with another, smaller oast to its right)

Are you planning a book on the Kent Hop Trade or just enjoying the research?

[rpadam]

Are you planning a book on the Kent Hop Trade or just enjoying the research?

Not sure - perhaps just finding a reason to go somewhere different each time for our daily 'Boris walk'?

[rpadam]

When out and about looking for oasthouses and other remaining parts and relics of the hop industry, my eye is starting to get caught by 'solitary trees' such as these.

Sadly, these ancient landmarks will eventually expire, but even in death they can retain a spooky grandeur...

[Mobyduck]

When out and about looking for oasthouses and other remaining parts and relics of the hop industry, my eye is starting to get caught by 'solitary trees' such as these.

Sadly, these ancient landmarks will eventually expire, but even in death they can retain a spooky grandeur...

Yes they can be quite striking in an otherwise barren landscape.

[rpadam]

Nearly all the oasts pictured so far have been converted to residential use (with a couple of honourable exceptions), but there are other options too...

The one above is now rather incongruously located within a small rural industrial estate (albeit based in a former farmyard), but it has been carefully converted for business use.

This one was also converted for use as offices, although a financially-driven change of use to residential may now be approved through the planning system.

[rpadam]

Here's another rarity, an unconverted oast, a reminder of days gone by when almost every farm around here would have had at least a single kiln in operation at harvest time.

Mind you, this place operates as an agricultural museum these days (albeit now only open by appointment).

[Wittenden]

Feature on p 7 of today's Sunday Crimes on Ali Capper and her band of hop trainers on their Worcestershire farm.