In this week's Bygones, Roy Mann explores the history of hops and their connection to popular local pubs.
One of the most prolific, and at times lucrative, crops grown in the United Kingdom, and Europe in general, has been the hop plant, Humulus lupulus, originally named by Pliny the Elder, in the 6th century BC in his Naturalis Historia, when he described it as the ‘wolf of the willow’.
The plant is a herbaceous hardy perennial and belongs to the Cannabinacae family which also includes hemp and is related to the nettle and elm families. Hops are a flower used primarily in beer production as a flavouring and stability agent.
They contain several characteristics very favourable to beer. First of all they contribute a bitterness that balances the sweetness of the malt used in brewing.
They also have aromas that are, depending on the type of plant, flowery, citrus, fruity or herbal, and, additionally, hops have an antibiotic effect that favours the activity of brewer’s yeast -another constituent of the beer brew – over less desirable micro-organisms.
By the 7th century, reports begin to appear of cultivated hop gardens in monasteries in France and Germany, and, indeed, the use of hops in the production of beer is probably of German origin.
In the 13th century, records show that the land given to hop growing was increasing considerably, and by the 14th century hop cultivation began to appear in the Netherlands: hops were probably grown in England at that time, but for use as herbs.
It is documented that a quantity of beer containing hops first arrived in England at Winchelsea in East Sussex in the year 1400. It wasn’t for consumption by the local populace, but rather, it was a consignment ordered by Dutch merchants who were doing business in England.
Anyone who has travelled through Kent by train to the channel ports will not have failed to notice the proliferation of oast houses along the route - used for drying the hops after harvesting, and before despatch to the breweries for beer production.
And so it is that Kent was the first part of the country to become involved in hop growing – indeed, the first English hop garden was created in the parish of Westbere near Canterbury in 1520.
There are a number of reasons for Kent being at the forefront of the new trend. The enclosed field system of farming was already well established in the area, the soils were suitable for hop growing, and - an important element – there was a plentiful supply of the right type of wood for the support poles, and for charcoal manufacture for the oast houses.
Kentish farmers were also relatively affluent and able to afford the capital outlay required for the new venture. By 1522 beer was being brewed in England for the first time using homegrown, as well as imported hops.
This is borne out by a large consignment of beer brewed with hops being sent to France for refreshing the army! The Royal Family were not averse to a tipple either, and beer was drunk at a state occasion at Windsor Great Park, hosted by Henry VIII in 1528 – Accounts show provision for 15 gallons of beer at 20d, and 15 gallons of ale, (beer without hops) at 2s. 6d.
By the 16th century England was in a position to export considerable amounts of beer. The huge demand for coppice poles and oak casks to supply the industry prompted the first need for timber conservation.
Hops proved to be such a profitable crop that legislation was passed preventing farmers from abandoning arable farming in favour of hops! You can understand the far mer’s motivation. In a successful hop-growing year, an acre of good hops could be more profitable than 50 acres of arable!
In 1574, an Englishman called Reynolde Scot wrote the first definitive book devoted to hop growing – It was called ‘ A Profite (sic) Platform of a Hop Garden’. Come the 17th century, and beer had become so established as a drink that farmers throughout the land were allocating at least some acreage of land on their farms for hop growing.
Although the main hop growing areas in England were located in the Kent, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Gloucestershire regions, in Nottinghamshire itself there were sizeable acreages throughout the county.
The number of local public houses with names bearing testimony to the crop is evidence of its importance. To mention but a few, there are hostelries bearing the name ‘Hop Pole’ in Beeston, Bulwell, Mansfield, two in Nottingham, Newark, Ollerton Village, and Retford itself.
The Hop Pole Hotel in Ollerton village is of particular interest as it was a major coaching inn during the 18th and 19th centuries. Hop growing gradually decreased in the Nottinghamshire area during the mid to late 18th century, particularly after the introduction of the railway system, because the Kent hops were ideally suited to the soil conditions in the South East and were of a slightly less bitter complexion.
There was also a higher financial return, as the annual yield in Kent was up to 50% greater when compared with the local crop. Consumption of hops increased considerably during the 18th century and figures reveal that in some years over a million barrels of beer were brewed in London and its suburbs alone.
The coopers must have been quids in! By the end of the century demand was so great that hops were growing as far north as Aberdeen!
In 1724 Daniel Defoe described the extensive hop plantations of Herefordshire as thus; ‘they boast, perhaps not without reason, that they have the finest wool, and the best hops and richest cider in all Britain…and hops they plant in abundance’. The government of the day in 1710 realised the importance of the hop crop and so they did what governments are good at.
They put a tax on the commodity! It was set at a rate of a 1d per pound on English hops and 3d per pound on the Flemish imports. The Act of Parliament also prohibited the use of any bittering agent other than hops in the brewing of beer.
The duty raised a large revenue, but the actual monies charged varied from year to year, and so speculation on the hop tax was a popular form of betting! And of course, when a commodity or a service is taxed, the smugglers move in. And so it was that untaxed hops from the Flemish regions were landed in the dead of night in obscure ports on the south coast.
From 1734 the penalty for illegal import was destruction of the crops, and a fine of 5 shillings per pound weight. A truly draconian penalty at the time.
Until mechanisation in the 1960s in the UK, many people picking hops in Kent at harvest time were Eastenders. The annual migration meant not just money in their pockets. But it was usually the only break they had away from the dismal conditions, and grime and smoke, they experienced back home.
Whole families travelled down on special trains, and lived in Spartan hopper’s huts for the month of September – even the smallest children helped in some way on the hop fields. Today, the principal production centres for the UK are in Kent (which produces the favoured Kent Golding hops) and Worcestershire. The Czech republic is also an important centre of the hop industry, in addition to Germany and Belgium.