Lectures

2nd November 2022: Hopping in Kent

Our invited speaker on 2nd November was Sue Duckworth who gave a talk on “Hopping in Kent”. Hops were introduced to England from the Low Countries (today’s Belgium and Netherlands), and the first Kentish hop gardens were created near Canterbury and Ashford in the 1520s.

Beer was made with hops that gave it a taste and fragrance that was becoming increasingly popular compared with the unhoped ale that was flavoured with herbs. Hops were brought to London from Kent to be sold by traders for beer making. In 1867 the Hop Exchange was opened in Southwark Street, London. This opulent Grade II listed building designed by RH Moore was set around a central trading hall with a high glass roof so that business could be done in natural light. A fire in the 1920s resulted in the removal of the top two stories and hop exchange closed and became offices.

The hop plant blooms that are used in beer making are called “Cones”. The cones are harvested in a relatively short picking season during September. Hop picking (hopping) became increasingly popular and whole families would leave the city on mass to travel to Kent for the annual hop picking, many catching the special trains from London Bridge station. Hopping not only provided extra income, but was an opportunity to escape from the drudgery of life in crowded and grubby London. Every year letters with the invitation to pick hops were eagerly awaited . In order to go hopping people had to get time off work. Some hoppers even persuaded their doctors to write sick notes so they could get the time off.

The hoppers worked in the hop fields from seven in the morning until five in the afternoon. The hop plant is trained to grow up strings or wires strung between 13 foot wooden poles. Workers on stilts helped lift the hop bines down from the poles so the cones could be picked and collected into hop baskets. Half an hour before the end of the working day the hop baskets were checked. Each basket could take a bushel of hops (about 36 litres or 8 gallons). The tally men gave the picker a token for each bushel of hops collected. The tally man also recorded the numbers of bushels on a notched tally stick.

The pay for hopping was low and could not always be relied on. As one hopper related “We did not know how much we would get paid as we did not know what the crop was like.” Above all, the hoppers enjoyed themselves as it was as much a holiday as work such that “At end of the season there was hardly any money to go home with”. Hoppers were usually provided accommodation in “Hoppers Huts” made of brick or tin that were arranged in blocks with shared facilities. Hoppers could spend an evening at the pub, such as at the Alma in Painters Forstal where they could drink beer and be entertained with music and dancing. Entertainment was also laid on for the children, including films and games; being tossed in the “Hop Pocket” (the sack for storing dried hops) was a favourite. Some of our fellow historical society members spoke fondly of the time they spent hopping as children; one of them still remembers the taste of the cocoa served in Wye Hop Garden.

Kent remains an important centre for hops. The harvest is celebrated annually at the Faversham Hop Festival and at the Hop Hoodening in Canterbury Cathedral. We should also celebrate the many varieties of hops that were developed at Wye College, and used in the brewing of many beers consumed every day in this country and around the world.

Margaret Bray