It was very gratifying this weekend to see so many people walking around Tongham with copies of the Tongham Hop Trail, a self guided walk that Jane and myself devised as part of Tongham's contribution towards Heritage Open Days. For those of you who were unable to make it, here are some of the highlight's in pictures.
The Hop Trail started at the Hogs Back brewery.
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| The entrance to Tongham Brewery that utilises some of the old Manor farm buildings |
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| The old barn at Tongham brewery |
The walk then continued down the street and right into Poyle Road to the Church.
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| Manor Farm and old dovecot, reputedly one of the oldest buildings in Tongham |
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| Rose Cottage which still has its own well. |
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| The old School, the Bell Tower and the Church |
We then retraced our steps to the cross roads and turned right past the shops.
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| Tongham Shops, built around 1906 |
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| Hop leaf motif above the door at the side of the fish shop |
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| In years gone by this was the view towards the station and the humpback bridge, now both long gone |
At the Cricketers we turned left.
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| The Cricketers is a Victorian pub |
Before going underneath the A331 we turned left into Tongham Wood.
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| The path through Tongham Wood follows the old railway line |
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| Hops along the fence in Tongham Wood |
On exiting the wood we came out into Garbetts Way and then left into Grange Road and on to the Kiln.
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| The Kiln sits in the centre of Tongham near the shops and pub |
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| The Kiln |
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| Steve of Amber and Green showing visitors around the kiln |
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| Exhibition within the kiln |
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| There are still hops in the kiln! |
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| View up the inside of the kiln. |
On exiting the Kiln, some of us visited the White Hart Pub.
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| The White Hart pub from the top of the kiln |
We then returned back up the street and stopped at Tongham Village Hall for a up of tea and a look at the excellent exhibition that Gill Picken and Derek Rowlands had put together.
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| Tongham Village Hall |
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| Derek Rowlands in front of the exhibits he helped put together |
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| Gill Picken helping local residents discover the history of their house |
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| Jane serving tea and cakes from the village hall's new kitchen |
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| Over 200 people visited the village hall over the weekend |
Hops & Beer in Tongham
If
you walk along Grange Road or along the path that follows the old Guildford to
Alton Railway line in Tongham Wood, you cannot fail to see hops growing amongst
the brambles, up trees and along the fences.
Hops are the rampant climbing plants with maple-like leaves that entwine
themselves everywhere. It is interesting
watching these plants produce their distinctive flowers in August and then grow
larger until ready for picking in September.
The
hop, surprisingly, is actually a close relative of Cannabis but is used to
flavour beer with its bitter aromatic flavour.
It is not a native of England but came from Southern Europe and became
used for beer making in England from around the sixteenth century. Hops don’t have many other uses apart from
cooking the young shoots as a vegetable, putting as a herb into your pillow
case to reduce insomnia or for use in decorative displays.
Some
of the hops you might see in Tongham are descendants of the hops that were farmed
here locally in the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Hop farming was a huge industry around
Tongham, Runfold and Farnham and all the way down to Alton in the second half of
the nineteenth century. The building of
the railway through Tongham was partly due to the need to transport local beer
and hops to London. Tongham’s remaining
oast house, or kiln, was built in 1858 by James Calloway, a tenant of Manor
Farm. With its round kilns it is typical
of a 19th century Oast.
Kingston Farm, up Poyle Road, also had an oast house but this is long
gone. The bottom part of the round kiln
was fired by charcoal, coke or charred pit coal. Above this was placed the hops that were
being dried. Once the hops were dried
and their moisture content reduced from 80% to less than 10%, they were put on
the top floor of the main building to cool and even out the moisture. When cooled the hops were pressed into sacks
or pockets and put onto the lower floor for storage. Incredibly these beautiful buildings were
used for only one month of the year after the hop harvest in September.
The
nineteenth century was the golden age of English hop growing but after 1878 it
began to decline. Apart from Tongham
Kiln, other reminders of the local hop industry are the hop leaf motives above
the door of the Village Hall and the side entrance to the fish and chip
shop. The only remaining hop garden in
Surrey is along the Hog’s Back in the village of Puttenham, which provides hops
to Tongham’s Hog’s Back brewery.
Tongham
now has only two Public Houses but in the past was also served by the Anchor
(in The Street near Manor Road where there are now new houses), The Duke of
Cambridge (on the corner of Manor Road and Spoil Lane) and The Victory (on the
Hog’s Back opposite the Hotel). The
White Hart pub has been on this site since 1619 but the modern pub was built in
1935. For many years outside the pub was
a well and pump and part of the pub was used as a grocery shop in the
nineteenth century until it infringed its licence by selling ale to
shoppers. Note the old iron plaque to
the right of the entrance. The owners of
the pub put this there when it was rebuilt.
Hodgson Kingston Breweries was a brewery based in Kingston, Surrey who
had bought up two local Guildford breweries, Elkins in 1890 and Crookes in
1929. They themselves were taken over by
Courage in 1943.
The
Hog’s Back Brewery is now the only brewery in the borough of Guildford but has
only been there since 1992. They do an
excellent tour and also have an amazing range of beers on sale in their shop.
Thanks to all those who helped make our Tongham Heritage Open Days a success.
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