KENTSTAYCATION
KENT LIFE MUSEUM
OAST
WITH THE MOST
A FAMILIAR SIGHT TO ALL KENTISH FOLK , BUT A CURIOUS ODDITY TO VISITORS FROM AFAR , THE ICONIC OAST HOUSE HAS BECOME AN ADORED EMBLEM FOR KENT ’ S RURAL IDENTITY .
Travel anywhere in Kent ’ s countryside and you are sure to see one . Perhaps its white turrets , or ‘ cowls ’ will arise from a collection of trees or its circular brick base will appear from around a bend in the road , sitting resplendently on the edge of a pretty village green or tucked away behind some farm gates . Wherever you might see one and whatever function it has today , the oast house you see will have played an important part in Kent ’ s agricultural history and the shaping of the county ’ s Garden of England persona .
When hops were first cultivated in this country over 600 years ago , it was at Westbere , just outside the City of Canterbury , where they were grown . Kent ’ s fertile soil was so well suited to growing hops that the county soon became the centre of the British hop industry , which remains to this day both an important part of the county ’ s history and its status in British brewing . The market town of Faversham is famously home to Shepherd Neame – the oldest surviving brewer in the country – with a history that can be traced back to the mid-16th century . But what do hops and brewing have to do with the picturesque oast house ? Everything . Designed for kilning , or drying hops , as part of the brewing process , the structure of the oast house achieved this through the use of a flow of heated air through the kiln rather than a traditional firing process .
55