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Breweries in the North Cotswolds 18 We are fortunate in the North Cotswolds to have an impressive range of public houses and gastro pubs in our towns and villages, with four independent breweries whose ales and beers can be bought all over the area – we must be the envy of other parts of the country! It is thanks to the area’s agricultural heritage that we still have a good collection of pubs in the Cotswolds. Domestic brewing was widespread In the seventeenth century domestic brewing was widespread, taking place in the kitchen, buttery or bake house, but by the eighteenth century brewing at home became more expensive largely due to high taxes being levied on malt and hops, and the common brewers and public houses enjoyed a virtual monopoly. By the nineteenth century brewing was increasingly more industrial with scientific control over the manufacture of beer, the introduction of improved and more efficient plant, and an ever growing range of beers. In Stow the first large industrial brewery was built in Sheep Street in 1837, at the time of Queen Victoria`s accession. Operated by a number of local families, the brewery office faced with flint stones on Cotswold stone was added in 1869 by Richard and William Gillett, whose family ran the brewery at the time. It was later sold to the Cheltenham Original Brewery who subsequently closed it. In most of the market towns brewing was on a more domestic scale. In Bourton on the Water the northern wing of Harrington House was used as a brewery from the 1860’s by Hadley and Sons, who sold their beers from the Jubilee Inn nearby. Both the Woodman Inn and Lansdown Inn (now the Mousetrap Inn) had brew houses in use in the nineteenth century and in Moreton in Marsh during the 1880’s, ale was brewed in the Swan Inn by another member of the Gillett family; it relocated to the High Street before being sold to Flowers in 1914. The Queen’s Head, Stow Small scale brewing also took place in Stow and the Queens Head in The Square had a brew house in 1848. The seventeenth century inn was sold to the Arkell family in the 1860’s and became one of the first acquisitions of the Donnington Brewery, which this year commemorates its 150th year and in 2010 was voted “Best Small Brewery “by the Good Pub Guide. It is thanks to our agricultural heritage that we still have a good collection of pubs in the Cotswolds The Donnington Brewery Almost hidden in a valley west of Stow on the Wold, the Donnington Brewery is one of the most picturesque breweries in the country. Constructed between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries, the buildings form two sides of a triangle with the mill pond on the third side. They are built of Cotswold stone and the central building with its steeply pitched roof and chimney is capped by Welsh slates. The Donnington story began in 1291 when one of Broadway Manor’s mills stood on the site. The mill race was built in the 16 th century when the building, like others in the Cotswolds, was used as a wool cloth mill before being converted by the Manor into two corn mills in 1580. Inside the building nearly all of the parts that helped to grind the corn are still in existence, including the grinding stones, gearing, cogs and external waterwheel. In 1827 when it was bought by Thomas Arkell, there were three mills, a bakery and a malthouse. Arkells Donnington Ales were established here in 1865 by Richard, grandson of Thomas Arkell. Initially he sold his beers to the local gentry but over time Donningtons established its own family of tied public houses to sell ales to the working man. The business remained a family concern right through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries but it was Claude Arkell, who came back from the Second World War as a RAF Officer in 1951 who, taking over the brewery from his father, ran it for more than fifty years and established it as one of the leading small breweries in the country. On his death in 2007 his cousin Peter Arkell took over the reins with his son James, who had learned the art of brewing at Doddington before running Arkell`s Brewery in Swindon. The Donnington Run – all 15 tied pubs Until 1959 all power was supplied by two water wheels (still occasionally used), and until the mid-1960’s the brewery grew its own barley and malted it on a special malting floor. Today the malt is brought from Norfolk and the hops come from Herefordshire ad Worcestershire. As the water is drawn from a natural spring besides the mill pond, only the sugar is imported. There are ten workers at the brewery and with the help of one lorry and a van they deliver 2,000 gallons of beer a week through the winter, rising to 3,500 gallons in the summer. Bottled beers and draught beers are brewed for sale through their fifteen tied public houses around the Cotswolds. A ‘Donnington Run’ means visiting all the original fifteen pubs in a single evening, but probably more manageable is The Donnington Way, the 62 mile walk which connects all these pubs – it could be covered over a long weekend.
Nigel Moor explores the history of brewing in the North Cotswolds and the legacy for today Both these breweries have survived through the determination of families wanting to remain independent and offer their customers bespoke brews that are not found everywhere. It is heartening that elsewhere in the North Cotswolds there are newer breweries that show these same characteristics. Donnington Brewery Donnington pubs are now as well known for their food as their beers but this is a fairly recent change. The Coach and Horses at Longborough was known for its ‘beer only’ philosophy (well, maybe a bag of crisps . . .) and a note ‘No food served here’ was often found on the door. The Hook Norton Brewery Walk down Brewery Lane past the Pear Tree Inn in Hook Norton and you will suddenly see the massive Victorian tower brewery built between 1899 and 1901 to the design of the London brewery architect William Bradford. It is described by Pevsner in his Buildings of Oxfordshire as ‘an extraordinary essay in brick, iron-stone, slate, weatherboarding, half-timber, and cast iron.’ ‘If it is working keep it, but if it breaks then replace it with the most modern and innovative device available’. The brewery began in 1849 when John Harris bought land and maltings in the Scotland End area of Hook Norton. In 1869 he entered the tied trade with the purchase of the Pear Tree inn nearby and began to sell his beers as far afield as Birmingham, Witney and Byfield. This was helped by the arrival of the Banbury to Cheltenham railway to Hook Norton in 1884. Successive generations of the Harris family have helped to ensure that this independent brewery survives the ups and downs of the brewing industry; a major success was after the first world war in 1918 when the company secured a license to supply Coventry Working Men`s Clubs. Now it has over 40 pubs and its visitor centre is a top tourist attraction with over 10,000 visitors. If you visit the brewery beware - the climb to the top of the five-storey brewery tower is not for the faint hearted! On the ground floor is a fine 25 horsepower steam engine supplying motive power to the brewery through a series of belts, cogs and shafts, and I was impressed by the brewers’ pragmatic approach: ‘If it is working keep it, but if it breaks then replace it with the most modern and innovative device available’. Hook Norton produce a wide range of beers including the ever-reliable ‘Hooky,’ which has a sensible 3.5% alcohol volume and is always drinkable. Hook Norton Brewery Stanway Brewery Stanway House east of Winchcombe was built for the Tracy family between the late sixteenth and mid seventeenth centuries; Sir Richard Tracy obtained a lease from Tewkesbury Abbey in 1533 and bought Stanway estate and its buildings after the Dissolution. Like many manor houses it had a brew house and in 1993 brewing was restarted by Alex Pennycock, with the support of the owner of the house, Lord Neidpath. Almost uniquely in England wood–fired coppers are used, which require fifty tons of wood each year. Beers such as Stanney Gold and Cotteswold Gold are sold in local pubs including The Crown and Trumpet in Broadway. North Cotswold Brewery To the east of Stanway the North Cotswold Brewery is a family-run craft brewery established in 1999 on the Fosseway near Moreton in Marsh and Shipston on Stour. The brewery has a core range of four beers - Windrush Ale, Cotswold Best, Shagweaver and Hung Drawn’n’Portered, available in both draught and bottles. Managing director Guy Holiday and his family went to the National beer competition in Sheffield earlier this year to represent the Wales and West region. Visitors are welcome but please book in advance. Further Reading : Bond, J. & Rhodes, J. (1985) The Oxfordshire Brewer Oxford Oxfordshire Museum Service. Edgell, T. ( 2010) Cotswolds Pubs and Breweries Stroud Amberley. Handy Colin ( 2003 ) The Donnington Way : Cotswold Walks between Donnington Brewery Inns Cheltenham Reardon & Son. Moor, N. ( 2009) The Donnington Way Blockley Church and Village News. 19
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