Image of Star Lane Brewery on Fisher Street – also known as Beards Brewery in Lewes circa 1890s.
Lost Breweries
A lovely article has appeared this month about the Lost Breweries walking tour the Ale and Hearty project organised in collaboration with Harveys Brewery on Sun 14th July.
It describes the breweries now gone to the town of Lewes, as well as showcasing some of the finer points of Miles Jenner (Chief Executive of Harveys) tour through photos and memories.
Here’s a sample of the article on the Roundhill Rob blog:
“He told us that at one time every town would have one or more breweries and malt houses to supply them with malted barley. Water was often unfit to drink, beer had been boiled, and contained hops which have an antiseptic value (as well as a bittering one) so was safer.
Brewing was also seasonal, being easier to cool without possible infection in spring and autumn than in summer when many wild yeasts and bacteria would be in the air. Brewing had originally been a domestic activity, but in towns busy entrepreneurs often saw a business opportunity.
In Lewes many brewers were from non-conformist families. Baptists in the case of the Verralls who established a brewery opposite the Swan in the 1780s, and Quakers in the case of the Rickmans who opened the Bear Brewery beside the Ouse in Clifton in 1766. Being a seasonal activity, owning a brewery was usually just one enterprise of several – owning and running the malt house, and perhaps farming to grow the malt and hops, were common additional enterprises…”
Monk’s Brewery, also known as Bear Brewery – image from late 1800s.
With thanks to East Sussex Record Office for allowing us permission to show these images.
