Keighley Malthouse a Rare Survivor

Malthouses were crucial to the brewing industry and Keighley is home to a rare survivor since the 17 century Yorkshire has been famous for its strong ales and beer its virtues were first put into print by George meriton in 1684 when he published the praise of Yorkshire ale a fanciful tale of bacchus touring towns in the county to sample the humming Yorkshire ale the word humming is an old term used to describe fine strong malty ale and beer and gave rise to brews known as Yorkshire hum other strong brews of the period included stingo knocker down and nappy ale which was said to take its name from the nap or frothy head the ingredients for making both ale and beer were water yeast hops and most important of all malt which is germinated cereal grain many Malthouses were attached to corn mills but very few now survive however tucked away at low bridge in Keighley on a narrow piece of land between the worth valley railway line and the river worth stands the old low bridge corn mill and Malthouse it is a rare survivor the original mill was built in the early 1800s to spin cotton and is said to have been the first in the town to be powered by a steam engine by the mid 1820s most local mills had changed from spinning cotton to spin worsted yarn but low bridge mill took a different direction the rapidly expanding population in the town meant that the old manorial corn mill on damside could no longer meet the demand for flour and john blakey a Keighley shoemaker saw an opportunity and repurposed the mill at low bridge to grind corn by 1837 he had expanded into malting barley for local brewing industry later taking a financial stake in the old brewery in Cook Street Keighley where Timothy Taylor started brewing in the 1850s in January 1839 disaster struck when during gale force winds the mill chimney was blown down smashing through the roof of the building and destroying the engine and engine house following the disaster the mill was largely rebuilt and tailored more specifically towards milling corn and malt production a new boiler house and engine house were built and the old steam engine replaced by a new beam engine of which the cast iron entablature or upper platform still survives immediately adjoining the engine house was the corn milling machinery and then separated by a wall was the larger Malthouse the two upper storeys would have been used to store the barley and the malt after it had been processed the actual malting took place on the floor at ground level where there would have been a water tank to steep the grains once soaked the grain was then shovelled out and put in piles on the flagstone floor and allowed to germinate carefully monitored and controlled once the malt had reached the desired stage it was transferred in wheelbarrows to the kiln the malted barley was then stored ready for sale nothing remains today of the kiln at low bridge mill in about 1865 the business passed to blakeys son Thomas and remained in the family until the early 1900s the mill was eventually taken by George Whalley.

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[@rogerbassett2502]

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