Maltings in England - English Heritage

16. Watton Road malthouse, Ware. - showing lucam. [BB92/26490]
17. Dormers, Gosford Road, Beccles, Suffolk [BB92/07348]
The storage and cleaning of both
barley before the malting
process started and the malt at
the end of the process are
essential parts of the process
and require dedicated areas
within the building. Externally the
storage areas of a malthouse
can usually be recognised by
taking in doors above ground
level. Often these doors would
have a hoist canopy or lucam
above them as at Watton Road,
Ware (fig 16). As storage
required a lot of space an area of
maltings with few or no windows
(or just small dormers in the roof)
can indicate a storage area
(fig17). Sometimes the storage
block might be structurally
distinctive perhaps in the form of
a cross wing, or covered in
weather-boarding or with some
other distinguishing features.
Mechanical handling, in large
maltings, sometimes required a
power house, but often an engine
was just located in the corner of
the building!
Steeping
The first stage in the malting process, after
drying and cleaning is the steeping of the
barley in the cistern to begin germination.
Early 16 th and 17 th century steeping
cisterns were often lead vessels and not a
built-in part of the structure of the
malthouse. From at least the end of the
17 th century the most usual type of
steeping cistern, until the last quarter of the
19 th century, was a rectangular trough
constructed of stone or brick and made
water tight with either lead or later cement, 18. Steep, Wetmore Road, Burton-on-Trent,
Staffordshire. [AA012376]
© ENGLISH HERITAGE MALTINGS IN ENGLAND 11