Out of the hay and into the hops
Subtitle: hop cultivation in Wealden Kent and hop marketing in Southwark, 1744-2000
By: Celia Cordle
Series: Studies in regional and local history -- v. 9; Studies in regional and local history (Hertfordshire, England) -- v. 9.
Publisher: University of Hertfordshire Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Hartfield
Language: eng
Number of pages: 183
ISBN-13: 9781907396038
Subjects: Hops; Marketing; Hops industry; History
Description: "Out of the Hay and into the Hops explores the history and development of hop cultivation in the Weald of Kent together with the marketing of this important crop in the Borough at Southwark (where a significant proportion of Wealden hops were sold). A picture emerges of the relationship between the two activities, as well as of the impact this rural industry had upon the lives of the people engaged in it. Dr Cordle draws extensively on personal accounts of hop work to evoke a way of life now lost for good. Oral history, together with evidence from farm books and other sources, records how the steady routine of hop ploughing and dung spreading, weeding and spraying contrasted with the bustle and excitement of hop picking (bringing in, as it did, many itinerant workers from outside the community to help with the harvest) and the anxious period of drying the crop. For hops, prey to the vagaries of weather and disease, needed much care and attention to bring them to fruition. In early times their cultivation provided work for more people than any other crop. The diverse processes of hop cultivation are examined within the wider context of events such as the advent of rail and the effects of war, as are changes to the working practices and technologies used, and their reception and implementation in the Weald. Meanwhile, in the Borough, an enclave of hop factors and merchants, whose interests sometimes conflicted with those of the hop growers, arose and then suffered decline. A full account of this trade is presented, including day-to-day working practices, links with the Weald, and the changes in hop marketing following Britain's entry into the European Economic Community. This book provides readers with a fascinating analysis of some three hundred years of hop history in the Weald and the Borough. Hops still grow in the Weald; in the Borough, the Le May facade and the gates of the Hop Exchange are reminders of former trade."--Book description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-176) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: '... into the hops'; title: Land and location; title: Fringe farms: the early days of hop cultivation; title: Continuity and change: Combourne and Harper's Farms 1897-9; title: The twentieth century: futures; title: Hop factors and hop merchants: buying and selling hops in the Borough; title: The last hurrah? Tithe commutation and the repeal of hop duty; title: Conclusion: gathering up and moving on.