A malthouse in outline

Image: © Neil Owen Taken: 20 Aug 2020

The old malthouses in Oakhill operated and brewed from 1767, when Jordan and Perkins first founded the Oakhill Brewery. Soon after it was taken over by a local man, John Billingsley (1747-1811), who was multi-talented and also had dealings in engineering and agriculture. Throughout the next century the company was owned by the Jillard and Spencer families, with the Hobhouse family taking the reins into the twentieth. The village benefited from the growth of the brewery and both shared in the supply of Mendip spring water, gas lighting and sewerage systems, and a light railway line to export the goods. The mainly Non-Conformist owners often gave land for chapels, the village school and even donated coal in harsh weathers. The outbreak of WWI caused the authorities to restrict alcohol and the buildings suffered from two bad fires in the 1920s; the trade slumped accordingly - from then on the brewery changed hands several times and included a spell of closure. Smaller scale operations recommenced in 1981 and the ownership changed again a few times. Eventually, work finally stopped in 2004; the site was partly demolished and the main malthouse here was converted to residential use.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0