Out of the Hay and into the Hops: Hop Cultivation in Wealden Kent and Hop Marketing in Southwark, 1744-2000

by Celia Cordle

Overview

Based on oral histories and farm books, this account offers a fascinating analysis of some 300 years of hop-cultivation history in the Weald of Kent, a rural area in the South of England, and in the London Borough of Southwark. The diverse processes of hop agriculture are examined within the wider context of events, such as the advent of the railroads and the effects of war, as are changes to the working practices and technologies used and their reception and implementation in the Weald. Also examining hop trading and dealing, this comprehensive record demonstrates the impact this rural industry had upon the lives of the people engaged in it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781907396045
Publisher:	University of Hertfordshire Press
Publication date:	10/01/2011
Series:	Studies in Regional and Local History , #9
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

Celia Cordle is the recipient of the Kent Archaeological Society’s inaugural Hasted Prize. She studied English local history at the University of Leicester, where she earned a PhD.

Table of Contents

List of figures viii

List of tables viii

List of appendices ix

General Editor's preface xi

Abbreviationst xiii

Acknowledgements xiv

Introduction: 'into the hops' 1

1 Land and location 5

The Weald 5

Changes in hop acreage 9

Woodland and the hop 11

The hop and employment 12

Southwark 13

2 Fringe farms: the early days of hop cultivation , 18

A farm at Ivychurch: 1789-1812 19

Ruffins Hill Farm, Burmarsh, Kent, 1696-1720 and Forestall Farm, Burmarsh, Kent, 1764-75 24

Forestall Farm 25

Tatlingbury Farm, near Tudeley, Kent, 1744-58 28

Biddenden Farm 1849-60 32

Organisation of the work 33

The plough team 34

Hop work 38

Hops in the economy of Biddenden Farm 48

3 Continuity and change: Combourne and Harper's Farms 1897-9 50

Issues of the time 53

Ernest Wickham and hop cultivation 58

Manure 59

Washes and sprays 64

Hop poles, wirework and creosote 68

The harvest 77

Endings 80

4 The twentieth century: futures 82

Varieties 91

Dwarf hops 93

5 Hop factors and hop merchants: buying and selling hops in the Borough 96

Middlemen 97

Direct selling and the Waddington case 101

Hop factors 106

Hop merchants 110

People and places 118

6 The last hurrah? Tithe commutation and the repeal of hop duty 127

John Nash and the repeal of hop duty 133

Conclusion: gathering up and moving on 138

Appendices 143

Select bibliography 167

Index 177

Figures

1 Geological map of the High and Low Wealds with approximate farm locations 8

2 Diagram of potential rail access to hop markets from Biddenden Farm 46

3 Plan of the Borough High Street and neighbourhood 119

Tables

1 Wealden parish and English hop acreages at intervals between 1866 and 1988 10

2 Average prices of Kentish hop bags and hop pockets in relation to English hop yields 1787-97 22

3 The numbers of hop factors and hop merchants in the Borough at selected dates 97