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58-646: An oast , oast house (or oasthouse) or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. Oast houses can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas, and are often good examples of agricultural vernacular architecture . Many redundant oast houses have been converted into houses. The names "oast" and "oast house" are used interchangeably in Kent and Sussex, but in Surrey, Hampshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire they are called "hop kilns". An oast house consists of

116-678: A Youth Hostel ( Capstone Farm , Chatham , another at Lady Margaret Manor, Doddington – now a residential centre for people with learning difficulties), a school ( Sturry ), a bakery ( Chartham ), a visitor centre (Bough Beech reservoir), offices (Tatlingbury Farm, Five Oak Green ), and a museum (Kent Museum of Rural Life, Sandling , Preston Street, Faversham , Wye College , Wye , and the former Whitbread Hop Farm at Beltring ). The National Trust owns an oast at Outridge, near Brasted Chart, which has very rare octagonal cowls, one at Castle Farm, Sissinghurst , converted to tea rooms, and another at Batemans , Burwash which has been converted to

174-502: A man-powered hoist for this purpose, consisting of a pulley of some 5 feet (1.52 m) diameter on an axle to which a rope or chain was attached. The green hops when freshly picked had a moisture content of approximately 80%. This needed to be reduced to 6%, although the moisture content would subsequently rise to 10% during storage. The green hops were spread out in the kilns. The floors were generally of 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 -inch (32 mm) square battens nailed at right angles across

232-428: A tunnel kiln , is long with only the central portion directly heated. From the cool entrance, ware is slowly moved through the kiln, and its temperature is increased steadily as it approaches the central, hottest part of the kiln. As it continues through the kiln, the temperature is reduced until the ware exits the kiln nearly at room temperature. A continuous kiln is energy-efficient, because heat given off during cooling

290-1029: A conical roof. Towards the end of the 19th century, square kilns were constructed. These generally ranged in size from 16 feet (4.88 m) to 20 feet (6.10 m) square. An oast at Hawkhurst was built with two octagonal kilns, 15 feet (4.57 m) across the flats. In the 20th century, oasts reverted to the original form with internal kilns and cowls in the ridge of the roof (Bell 5, Beltring). These oasts were much larger and constructed of modern materials. Oasts were built as late as 1948 (Upper Fowle Hall, Paddock Wood), or 1950 (Hook Green, Lamberhurst ). Very modern oasts bear little resemblance to traditional oasts. These vast buildings can process hops from several farms, as at Norton near Teynham in Kent, built in 1982. Oasts were built of various materials, including bricks, timber, ragstone, and sandstone. Cladding could be timber weatherboards, corrugated iron or asbestos sheet. Many oasts were timber-framed buildings, although some were built entirely in brick, or ragstone if this

348-663: A cowl (Upper Lyde Farm, Pipe-cum-Lyde ), or a ridge ventilator (Kidley, Acton Beauchamp ). Oasts can be found in the UK and abroad. Oasts are generally associated with Kent , and the oasthouse is a symbol associated with the county. They are also found in Sussex , Surrey and Hampshire . In the West Midlands, the main hop-growing areas are Worcestershire , Herefordshire and Gloucestershire . In Worcestershire and Herefordshire oast houses were known as hop kilns. In Belgium ,

406-460: A key factor in the development of Chinese pottery , and until recent centuries was the most advanced in the world. The Chinese developed kilns capable of firing at around 1,000 °C before 2000 BCE . These were updraft kilns, often built below ground. Two main types of kiln were developed by about 200 AD and remained in use until modern times. These are the dragon kiln of hilly southern China , usually fuelled by wood, long and thin and running up

464-530: A range of firing conditions. Both Ancient Roman pottery and medieval Chinese pottery could be fired in industrial quantities, with tens of thousands of pieces in a single firing. Early examples of simpler kilns found in Britain include those that made roof-tiles during the Roman occupation. These kilns were built up the side of a slope, such that a fire could be lit at the bottom and the heat would rise up into

522-448: A rectangular one- or two-storey building (the "stowage") and one or more kilns in which the hops were spread out to be dried by hot air rising from a wood or charcoal fire below. The drying floors were thin and perforated to permit the heat to pass through and escape through a cowl in the roof which turned with the wind. The freshly picked hops from the fields were raked in to dry and then raked out to cool before being bagged up and sent to

580-554: A shop, with the cowl being replaced by a dovecot . In recent years, a number of buildings have been erected to look as though they were oasts, although in fact, that is not the case. Examples of this are: Kiln According to the Oxford English Dictionary , kiln was derived from the words cyline, cylene, cyln(e) in Old English , in turn derived from Latin culina ("kitchen"). In Middle English ,

638-418: A slope, and the horseshoe-shaped mantou kiln of the north Chinese plains, smaller and more compact. Both could reliably produce the temperatures of up to 1300 °C or more needed for porcelain . In the late Ming, the egg-shaped kiln or zhenyao was developed at Jingdezhen and mainly used there. This was something of a compromise between the other types, and offered locations in the firing chamber with

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696-588: Is a persistent myth that the village was originally around the far northern border with Mereworth . Sheet 80 of the First Edition One-Inch Ordnance Survey map published on 1 January 1819 shows the village as being two miles north east as St Michael's church stands on high ground there, now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust and open daily. In the mid-nineteenth century the new parish church of

754-486: Is achieved by the use of a flow of heated air through the kiln, rather than a firing process. Hops were picked in the hop gardens by gangs of pickers, who worked on a piece work basis and earned a fixed rate per bushel . The green hops were put into large hessian sacks called pokes (in Kent) or green sacks (West Midlands). These would be taken to the oast and brought into the stowage at first floor level. Some oasts had

812-469: Is at Golford, Cranbrook , built in 1750. This small timber framed oast is 21 by 15 feet (6.4 by 4.6 m) in plan, and has a hipped tiled roof. It has one kiln, and a single cowl on the ridge of the roof. In the early 19th century, the traditional oast as we now know it started to be built. A two- or three-storey stowage, with between one and eight circular kilns. Kiln sizes generally ranged from 12 feet (3.66 m) to 18 feet (5.49 m) diameter, with

870-532: Is especially true in the drying of thin veneers and high-temperature drying of softwoods. East Peckham East Peckham is a village and civil parish in Kent , England on the River Medway . The parish covers the main village as well as Hale Street and Beltring . The Domesday entry for East and West Peckham reads:- Part of the manor of East Farleigh lay within what is now East Peckham. There

928-444: Is often provided early in the schedule to supplement the dehumidifier. Solar kilns are conventional kilns, typically built by hobbyists to keep initial investment costs low. Heat is provided via solar radiation, while internal air circulation is typically passive. Vacuum and radio frequency kilns reduce the air pressure to attempt to speed up the drying process. A variety of these vacuum technologies exist, varying primarily in

986-404: Is recycled to pre-heat the incoming ware. In some designs, the ware is left in one place, while the heating zone moves across it. Kilns in this type include: In the intermittent kiln , the ware is placed inside the kiln, the kiln is closed, and the internal temperature is increased according to a schedule. After the firing is completed, both the kiln and the ware are cooled. The ware is removed,

1044-416: Is removed by a system of vents, the specific layout of which are usually particular to a given manufacturer. In general, cool dry air is introduced at one end of the kiln while warm moist air is expelled at the other. Hardwood conventional kilns also require the introduction of humidity via either steam spray or cold water misting systems to keep the relative humidity inside the kiln from dropping too low during

1102-669: Is the closest major road to the village. The village is served by the Arriva Southern Counties routes 6 and 6A which provide connections to Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone as well as the Go-Coach route 208 to Tonbridge . Beltring railway station on the Medway Valley Line is the closest rail station to East Peckham and is served by hourly Southeastern train services to Tonbridge , Maidstone and Strood . On 28 January 1896 Walter Arnold, of

1160-535: The Arnold (automobile) company of East Peckham, was summonsed for travelling at 8 mph (13 km/h) in a motorised vehicle, thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit for towns of 2 mph (3.2 km/h). He had been caught by a policeman who had given chase on a bicycle. He was fined 1 shilling plus costs, the first speeding fine in England, and thus became the first person to be convicted of speeding in

1218-610: The Czech Republic hops are grown around Roudnice , Hradec Králové Region and around Úštěk and Žatec , Ústí nad Labem Region . They are also grown around Olomouc , Olomouc Region . In Slovakia , hops are grown around Trenčín , Trenčín Region . Hops are also grown in Poland and Russia . Oast houses are often called hop kilns in Australia. Tasmania is a major hop-growing area, as were parts of Victoria . During

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1276-556: The brewers would buy them and use the dried hops in the beer-making process to add flavour and act as a preservative. Oasts sometimes caught fire, the damage sometimes being confined to the kilns (Castle Farm, Hadlow ), or sometimes leading to the complete destruction of the oast (Stilstead Farm, East Peckham in September 1983, and Parsonage Farm, Bekesbourne in August 1996). The earliest description of an oast dates from 1574. It

1334-463: The 19th century, some of the Kentish hop growers emigrated, and took hops with them. Initially, Tasmanian oasts were converted from existing buildings ( New Norfolk , Ranelagh) but later purpose-built oasts were built (Valley Field, Bushy Park). These oasts had louvred ventilators instead of a cowl. The New Norfolk oast was converted from a watermill and is now a museum. Another location that has oasts

1392-624: The Holy Trinity was built in what had for centuries been, and likely since the first multi-family settlement arose, the parish population centre. The architects were Whichcord and Walker of Maidstone, and the foundation stone was laid on 24 October 1840. The River Bourne joins the Medway in the south of the parish and powered a watermill , Little Mill. Another watermill on the River Medway stood at Branbridges . Large, populated parts used to flood with unusual frequency among parishes along

1450-465: The Medway. The East Peckham Flood Relief partnership was formed in 2003. A dam since 2005 exists on the Coult Stream at Bullen Farm. It is 160 metres (170 yd) long and 4 metres (13 ft) high and has the capacity to hold 80,000 cubic metres (18,000,000 imp gal) of floodwater. The scheme cost just over £1 million. In 2012, a local amateur theatre group, The Russett Players,

1508-548: The air in the chamber is then heated and finally a vacuum is pulled as the charge cools. SSV run at partial-atmospheres, typically around 1/3 of full atmospheric pressure, in a hybrid of vacuum and conventional kiln technology (SSV kilns are significantly more popular in Europe where the locally harvested wood is easier to dry than the North American woods.) RF/V (radio frequency + vacuum) kilns use microwave radiation to heat

1566-449: The brewery. The Kentish dialect word kell was sometimes used for kilns ("The oast has three kells") and sometimes to mean the oast itself ("Take this lunchbox to your father, he's working in the kell"). The word oast itself also means "kiln". The earliest surviving oast house is at Golford, Cranbrook near Tunbridge Wells . It dates from some time in the 17th century and closely mirrors the first documentary evidence on oasts soon after

1624-423: The building, dividing it into three, the upper floor being used to receive the "green" hops, dry them and press the dried hops. Examples of this type of conversion can be seen at Catt's place, Paddock Wood , and Great Dixter , Northiam . Later conversions of barns and cottages would be by either building an integral kiln within one end of the building, as seen at Biddenden , Kent, or by adding kilns externally to

1682-465: The clay until the particles partially melt and flow together, creating a strong, single mass, composed of a glassy phase interspersed with pores and crystalline material. Through firing, the pores are reduced in size, causing the material to shrink slightly. In the broadest terms, there are two types of kilns: intermittent and continuous, both being an insulated box with a controlled inner temperature and atmosphere. A continuous kiln , sometimes called

1740-437: The differential impact of the presence of drying equipment in a specific plant. Every piece of equipment from the green trimmer to the infeed system at the planer mill is part of the "drying system". The true costs of the drying system can only be determined when comparing the total plant costs and risks with and without drying. Kiln dried firewood was pioneered during the 1980s, and was later adopted extensively in Europe due to

1798-581: The drying cycle. Fan directions are typically reversed periodically to ensure even drying of larger kiln charges. Most softwood kilns operate below 115 °C (239 °F) temperature. Hardwood kiln drying schedules typically keep the dry bulb temperature below 80 °C (176 °F). Difficult-to-dry species might not exceed 60 °C (140 °F). Dehumidification kilns are similar to other kilns in basic construction and drying times are usually comparable. Heat comes primarily from an integral dehumidification unit that also removes humidity. Auxiliary heat

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1856-429: The economic and practical benefits of selling wood with a lower moisture content (with optimal moisture levels of under 20% being much easier to achieve). The total (harmful) air emissions produced by wood kilns, including their heat source, can be significant. Typically, the higher the temperature at which the kiln operates, the larger the quantity of emissions that are produced (per mass unit of water removed). This

1914-566: The existing building, as seen at Barnhill Farm, Hunton , and also at Sutton Valence , or both, as seen at Ightham Mote . An agreement for the building of an oast in Flimwell in East Sussex in 1667 gave the size of the building as 30 by 15 feet (9.1 by 4.6 m) and another to be built there was to be built in 1671 being 32 by 16 feet (9.8 by 4.9 m) or 17 feet (5.2 m), having two kilns. The earliest surviving purpose-built oast

1972-508: The introduction of hops into England in the mid-16th century. Early oast houses were simply adapted barns, but by the 18th century the distinctive tall buildings with conical roofs had been developed to increase the draught. At first, these were square, but around 1800 roundel kilns were developed in the belief that they were more efficient. Square kilns remained more popular in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and came back into fashion in

2030-431: The joists, placed so that there was a similar gap between each batten, and covered with a horsehair cloth. The hops would be spread some 12 inches (300 mm) deep, the kiln doors closed and the furnace lit. When the hops were judged to be dried, the furnace would be extinguished and the hops removed from the kiln using a scuppet , which was a large wooden framed shovel with a hessian base. The hops would be spread out on

2088-464: The kiln can kill you." Bowen was noting that "kill" and "kiln" are homophones . Pit fired pottery was produced for thousands of years before the earliest known kiln, which dates to around 6000 BCE , and was found at the Yarim Tepe site in modern Iraq . Neolithic kilns were able to produce temperatures greater than 900 °C (1652 °F). Uses include: Kilns are an essential part of

2146-431: The kiln charge, and typically have the highest operating cost due to the heat of vaporization being provided by electricity rather than local fossil fuel or waste wood sources. The economics of different wood drying technologies are based on the total energy, capital, insurance/risk, environmental impacts, labor, maintenance, and product degradation costs. These costs, which can be a significant part of plant costs, involve

2204-464: The kiln is cleaned and the next cycle begins. Kilns in this type include: Kiln technology is very old. Kilns developed from a simple earthen trench filled with pots and fuel pit firing , to modern methods. One improvement was to build a firing chamber around pots with baffles and a stoking hole. This conserved heat. A chimney stack improved the air flow or draw of the kiln, thus burning the fuel more completely. Chinese kiln technology has always been

2262-428: The kiln was external, were generally built of a timber frame and covered in either peg tiles or slate. Some oasts had conical kiln roofs built of brick, these were covered in tar or pitch to keep them weatherproof. A few oasts had square kilns with brick roofs, again covered in tar or pitch. The top of the roof was open, and carried a cowl or louvred vent. Oasts were generally built of bricks or local stone. Bricks were

2320-411: The kiln. Traditional kilns include: With the industrial age , kilns were designed to use electricity and more refined fuels, including natural gas and propane . Many large industrial pottery kilns use natural gas, as it is generally clean, efficient and easy to control. Modern kilns can be fitted with computerized controls allowing for fine adjustments during the firing. A user may choose to control

2378-517: The kiln. Most softwood kilns are track types in which the timber is loaded on kiln/track cars for loading the kiln. Modern high-temperature, high-air-velocity conventional kilns can typically dry 1-inch-thick (25 mm) green wood in 10 hours down to a moisture content of 18%. However, 1-inch-thick green red oak requires about 28 days to dry down to a moisture content of 8%. Heat is typically introduced via steam running through fin/tube heat exchangers controlled by on/off pneumatic valves. Humidity

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2436-572: The main hop growing area is around Poperinghe and Ypres , West Flanders . Hops are also grown across the border in Nord , France . Hops are also grown around Aelst, north west of Brussels . Apart from Nord, the main hop growing area in France is around Haguenau , Bas-Rhin and around Dijon and Bèze , Côte-d'Or . In Germany, hops are grown around Tettnang , Baden-Württemberg ; around Hallertau , Hersbruck , Illschwang and Spalt , Bavaria . In

2494-435: The manufacture of almost all types of ceramics . Ceramics require high temperatures so chemical and physical reactions will occur to permanently alter the unfired body. In the case of pottery, clay materials are shaped, dried and then fired in a kiln. The final characteristics are determined by the composition and preparation of the clay body and the temperature at which it is fired. After a first firing, glazes may be used and

2552-399: The method heat is introduced into the wood charge. Hot water platten vacuum kilns use aluminum heating plates with the water circulating within as the heat source, and typically operate at significantly reduced absolute pressure. Discontinuous and SSV (super-heated steam) use atmosphere pressure to introduce heat into the kiln charge. The entire kiln charge comes up to full atmospheric pressure,

2610-434: The moisture content is between 18% and 8%. This can be a long process unless accelerated by use of a kiln. A variety of kiln technologies exist today: conventional, dehumidification, solar, vacuum and radio frequency. Conventional wood dry kilns are either package-type (side-loader) or track-type (tram) construction. Most hardwood lumber kilns are side-loader kilns in which fork trucks are used to load lumber packages into

2668-478: The rate of temperature climb or ramp , hold or soak the temperature at any given point, or control the rate of cooling. Both electric and gas kilns are common for smaller scale production in industry and craft, handmade and sculptural work. Modern kilns include: Green wood coming straight from the felled tree has far too high a moisture content to be commercially useful and will rot, warp and split. Both hardwoods and softwood must be left to dry out until

2726-481: The southeast in the later 19th century. In the 1930s, the cowls were replaced by louvred openings as electric fans and diesel oil ovens were employed. Nowadays hops are dried industrially and the many oast houses on farms have now been converted into dwellings. One of the best-preserved oast house complexes is at the Hop Farm Country Park at Beltring . The purpose of an oast is to dry hops . This

2784-431: The stowage floor to cool, and would then be pressed into large jute sacks called pockets with a hop press . Each pocket contained the produce of about 150 imperial bushels (5,500 L) of green hops. It weighed a hundredweight and a quarter (140 pounds (64 kg)) and was marked with the grower's details, this being required under The Hop (Prevention of Fraud) Act, 1866 . The pockets were then sent to market, where

2842-506: The usual material for building the stowage, wood only being used in floors. Stone was sometimes used too ( Madley ). Some oasts had a cider mill on the ground floor of the stowage (Little Cowarne Court, Little Cowarne). Bricks were the usual material for building kilns. Stone was also used. Kiln roofs could be of timber, clad in tiles or slate, or bricks. Brick kiln roofs could be tarred ( Little Cowarne Court, Bromyard ) or left bare (The Farm, Brockhampton ). The roofs would be topped with

2900-466: The ware is fired a second time to fuse the glaze into the body. A third firing at a lower temperature may be required to fix overglaze decoration. Modern kilns often have sophisticated electronic control systems, although pyrometric devices are often also used. Clay consists of fine-grained particles that are relatively weak and porous. Clay is combined with other minerals to create a workable clay body. The firing process includes sintering . This heats

2958-525: The word is attested as kulne, kyllne, kilne, kiln, kylle, kyll, kil, kill, keele, kiele. In Greek the word καίειν, kaiein , means 'to burn'. The word "kiln" was originally pronounced "kil" with the "n" silent, as is referenced in Webster's Dictionary of 1828 and in English Words as Spoken and Written for Upper Grades by James A. Bowen 1900: "The digraph ln, n silent, occurs in kiln. A fall down

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3016-457: The world's largest collection of Oast Houses . Hale Street is another residential area to the east of the main village. Pound Road has most of the village's amenities including the primary school, Co-op convenience store, local shops and the now closed Merry Boys pub. Brookside Garden Centre is located in the village, and was opened in 1968. East Peckham is bypassed by the A228 road which

3074-415: Was Tyenna . A modern oast of 400 by 200 feet (120 by 60 m) was built at Bushy Park in 1982. With the increasing mechanisation of the hop-picking process, many oasts fell into disuse. Some were demolished and others became derelict. Increasing demand for housing has led to many oasts being converted into houses. Local councils nowadays are generally much stricter on the aesthetics of the conversions than

3132-447: Was a small building of 18 feet (5.49 m) by 9 feet (2.74 m) in plan, with walls 9 feet (2.74 m) high. The central furnace was some 6 feet (1.83 m) long, 2 feet 6 inches (760 mm) high and 13 inches (330 mm) internal width. The upper floor was the drying floor, and only some 5 feet (1.52 m) above the ground floor, hops being laid directly on the slatted floor rather than being laid on hessian cloth as

3190-561: Was available locally. Some oasts were entirely brick except the front and floors, which were timber. Internal kilns were built of timber or bricks. External kilns were built from bricks, ragstone and bricks, flint, or sandstone. A rare material usage was at Tilden Farm, Headcorn where the kiln was built from Bethersden Marble. During the Second World War, a few kilns were built with a basic timber framing and clad in corrugated iron (Crittenden Farm, Matfield ). Kiln roofs, where

3248-491: Was formed in the village. East Peckham developed from nine hamlets (Roydon, Hale Street, Beltring, Little Mill, The Pound, Snoll Hatch, The Bush, Goose Green and Chidley Cross). These straddle the River Medway . It was economically focussed on hop growing and other agriculture, in which sector plant growing remains economically important, including two garden centres. Beltring includes The Hop Farm Country Park , including outdoor cinema, escape room and two restaurants and

3306-421: Was the case before the planning law came into being. Often kiln roofs have to be rebuilt, and cowls provided on converted oasts. The earliest example of an oast being converted to a house is Millar's Farm oast, Meopham , which was house-converted in 1903 by Sir Philip Waterlow . Other conversions of oasts for non-residential purposes include a theatre ( Oast Theatre , Tonbridge , Oast house Theatre Rainham ),

3364-453: Was the later practice. In many cases, early oasts were adapted from barns or cottages. In 1779, St. Peter's Chapel, Frindsbury was converted to an oast. A chapel at Horton , near Canterbury was also converted. Part of Hastings Priory was serving as an oast in 1823. The gatehouse to the Bishop's Palace, Bosbury , Herefordshire was also converted. This was done by building a kiln within

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