Listed Building: MALTHOUSE NUMBER 4 (467962)

WEYMOUTH SY6878SW SPRING ROAD 873-1/28/263 (East side) 25/09/90 Malthouse No.4 GV II* Malthouse. 1889, by CR Crickmay and Son for Grove's Brewery. Flemish bond brickwork with red and Broadmayne bricks, and basement in rubble, slate roofs. PLAN: a large industrial unit in 3 parts; to left are 2 square kilns with pyramidal roofs, at centre a 6-bay gabled range in 3 storeys, basement, and attics, and to right a gabled cross-wing in 4 storeys with attic, and gabled projecting framed and boarded hoist. Small lean-to engine house projects forward from the northern end of the north-western elevation. EXTERIOR: the kilns are in 2 bays with flat piers stopped under a frieze band in yellow brick with red diaper pattern, and brick dentil eaves. The swept slate roofs have cast-iron hip tiles, and a short cast-iron circular ridge vent. The front has a lean-to unit, and a flight of stone steps to a door under a pent roof. To the left, in the narrow lane, a stepped plinth contains 2 blocked and 2 open basement lights, a wide light with bull-nosed brick sill at first floor, and small square lights cutting into the frieze; the plain rear, with brick piers, is set forward from the central range. A series of circular cast-iron plates holding bolted ties near the top of the kilns, probably part of the original construction of the inner apparatus. The openings in the remainder of the building generally have plain reveals, segmental brick heads, and steep sills in bull-nosed brick, with a square central light flanked by narrow verticals, generally shuttered rather than glazed. Those at the eaves are set in the frieze, and below the bays are divided by brick piers. Ground floor has a plank door inserted in bay 2, and in the rubble basement are 5 square openings, with bars, plus in bay 1, in brickwork, a wide segmental head over deep-set doors. The rear wall is similar in detail. There are plain flush yellow brick bands at sill level, and towards the left a raised gabled ridge-light with boarding. The tall gabled range has corner and central brick piers, the last stopped below the hoist, with 2 lights at 3 levels, and a pair of plank doors on a steep flight of steps to the right. The hoist is carried on steel beams to stone corbels, and has a band of casements at the top, with a further narrow band at third-floor level. The gable has stepped projecting brick embellishment. The return front, to Horsford Road, is in 4 bays with piers joined to a stepped eaves band. At first and second floor levels there are small square vents (in a 1:2:2:1 pattern) below the windows, with prominent bull-nosed sills, and the rear gable has a bold stepped brick eaves over 3 small central stepped lights to flush stone lintels and sills, corner and central piers. There are 2 segmental-headed lights at ground and first floors. INTERIOR: is unaltered, with two 8 x 3-bay main malting floors with cast-iron columns and beams to shutter-built cement jack arches. The kilns are constructed utilising a rolled-iron framework with infill panels of shuttered cement with concrete strengthening. The kiln floors retain most of their perforated ceramic tiles. Two cast-iron hopper-bottomed steeps survive at the south-western end of the upper growing floor. All the barley and malt storage bins survive together with the linked barley and malt cleaning machinery. The building retains the only surviving example of the innovative Last's ventilation system which comprises rectangular holes in splayed openings containing adjustable cast-iron plates into which the words "LLEWELLINS & JAMES BRITOL LASTS PATENTS" are cast. These openings are positioned at regularly-spaced intervals in the south-western elevation and in the party wall between the kilns and the growing floors. A bucket elevator has been introduced at the western end of the growing floor range in the late C19 or early C20. A splendid example of the bold and forthright detailing characteristic of the "Functional Tradition" and the most significant element in an outstanding group with other brewery structures in the Hope Square area. Particularly notable in the context of the development of the C19 brewing industry for the innovative use of materials for this date, its complete state of interior preservation and as the only maltings to have retained the innovative "Lasts Patent" system for assisting draft to kiln. (Felstead A et al: Directory of British Architects 1834-1900: London: 1993-; Wright HE: A Handy Book for Brewers: 1897-: 71; RCHME report NBR No.90999 contains copies of original drawings). Listing NGR: SY6812278485

Record last edited

Oct 15 2009 10:18AM