Maltings in England - English Heritage

Secondly the appearance of maltings changed with the rise of the specialist designer. Hitherto
maltings had been essentially very plain functional buildings achieving any aesthetic effect by
67. Exterior Malthouse No 2 Weymouth, Dorset.
[BB95/07423]
between buttresses, prominent engine houses and
ornate office blocks. Malthouses also continued to
be designed within the industry with no less
dramatic effect. At the turn of the century Robert
Free designed his own maltings at Mistley while the
massive Shobnall (Burton) and Sleaford Maltings
were the work of Bass’s engineer-cum-architect, H.
A. Couchman (fig 68).
The 20 th Century
Floor malting continued throughout the twentieth century despite the
introduction of pneumatic maltings. Likewise, and perhaps
surprisingly floor maltings continued to be built, in particular during
the first decade of the twentieth century, as at Mistley (fig 69) and it
was not until 1952/3 that the last one was built at Market Street,
Grimsby for Messrs Sanders (fig 70). It was highly automated. There
is significantly one complex which was completed in the middle of
the first decade of the twentieth century which is probably the largest
ever built, the Bass Maltings at Sleaford. The site included eight
large maltings linked by
gantries, and between
the centre two blocks, an
engine house, and a
central barley garner and
drying kiln.
the massing of their distinctive components.
From the 1860s onwards some attempts were
made to liven up the appearance of maltings with
the use of patterned brickwork and making a
feature of sack hoist canopies (fig 67). By 1880
there were several specialist brewers’ and
maltsters’ architectural firms, mainly based in
London and Nottingham, but conducting work all
over the county. Henceforth maltings exhibited
common design features such as arcading
68. Bass Maltings, Sleaford, Lincolnshire.
[BB82/09997]
69. Free Rodwell’s
Malthouse No 7,
Mistley, Essex
[A Patrick]
70. Sander’s Malthouse, Market Street,
Grimsby. [BB96/02207]
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