Building record TQ 74 SW 275 - Yew Tree Farm Oast, Yew Tree Green Road, Horsmonden

A relatively rare 20th century oast or building for sorting and drying hops. Refurbished and converted for residential use c. 2021. Constructed in 1939-40 following the burning down of the older oast in a similar position. (1)

A 2007 report on the present oast house described it as having been constructed on the site of an earlier oast house known through map evidence to have existed since at the site since at least 1843. The earlier oast house had been enlarged with the addition of two roundels and associated buildings to the south and east during the later 19th and earlier 20th century. This structure burnt down during the 20th century and the existing oast house was constructed on its site around 1939-1940. The replacement oast house is described as "a rare survival: it is the only one encountered by the writer to survive with tangible evidence of a system of drying which utilised 'roller floors'" (from the original report, 2). This method of drying reduced the amount of damage to the hops and became popular in the years immediately following the First World War, as a result of the decrease in hop acreage. However, technological advances following the Second World War frequently resulted in these 'roller floor' systems being removed, therefore Yew Tree Oasthouse is a rare survival from this period. (summarised from the original report, 2).

Features relating to the site's use as an oast house include the wheel used for winding the hair cloth involved in the 'roller floor' system of hop drying, an overhead gantry, a hatch opening, and a late 19th century greenstage (for the immediate storage of freshly picked hops). (2)

<1> Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2021, Historic Building Recording of Yew Tree Farm Oast, Yew Tree Green Road, Horsmonden, Tonbridge, Kent, TN12 8HP (Unpublished document). SKE58067.

<2> Gwendoline Jones, 2007, Report on Yewtree Farm Oast House, Horsmonden, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE58133.