Rye Museum invited visitors and locals to learn more about hop farming which has decreased considerably since it was first introduced in Britain by Dutch farmers from the Low Countries (modern day Belgium and Holland). Chris McGrath, Rye Museum volunteer, put together an interesting video explaining the basic history of hop growing in this country.
Though hop beer came to Britain in the 14th century the actual organised growing of hops started in the 1520s, especially in Kent. It is believed that the initial use of hops in beer was first cultivated in Germany.
It was Dutch traders who brought the tradition to the South East of England. There was initial resistance, people being used to “clean” ale. By the late 17th century the use of hops was widespread. It should be mentioned that only female hopes were used in the process of brewing beer. Hops are tall, decorative climbing plants and grow as tall as 25 feet so needed to be well supported.
Women were usually tasked to persuading the new shoots to follow the strings up to a crossbeam where a worker on stilts had fastened these to an overhead wire, earlier in the year. “Twiddling”, done in a clockwise direction was done in early spring, was hard work and needed a hand-trained process to chose the best shoots and wind them around the strings to encourage upward growth for a productive autumn harvest.
While the work was back-breaking and the conditions on the farms were basic, most hop pickers looked forward to the time in the country air as many saw it as an opportunity to escape the London pollution and poverty, as well as making some extra money.
But progress, which had its positive and negative sides, arrived and many farmers used machines. They did the work people used to do, collecting the vines, transporting them to the farm and working them into usable hops and, once packed, transporting it to the brewers. Over the years, the hop acreage increased until 1878 when it reached its peak to 77,000 acreage.
Tastes changed and demand for lighter beer, pale ale, became fashionable. By 1909 only 32,000 acreage remained and foreign hops were imported again. Eventually only 16,500 acreage remained. It was also realised that it was cheaper and easier to develop a new category of hop, only growing to eight feet tall. It was easier to harvest at speed with the machine and needed less chemical input.
In East Sussex, Tibbs Farm, where you can pick your own fruit, still celebrates the hop season and at the moment one can still see the poles left behind. It also has a wonderful cafe with lovely cake. No doubt there is much more information one can find out if interested as this is only a skeleton of an interesting time.
Image Credits: Rye Castle Museum , Chris McGrath , Heidi Foster .