Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The brewery was founded by Richard Marsh who had leased the site in 1678 and purchased it in 1698. But there is documentary evidence for brewing on the site in 1570 and possibly earlier - in 1520. In 1732 the brewery was acquired by Samuel Shepherd, and inherited by his son Julius in 1755. Julius modernised malt grinding and pumping on the site by the introduction of a Sun and Planet steam engine, manufactured by Boulton and Watt in 1789. This was the first steam engine to be used for this purpose outside of London. The brewery was renamed the Faversham Steam Brewery.Julius was succeeded by his son Henry in 1819, who retired in 1844 after further developing the brewery. He was succeeded by his son, also named Henry, who went into partnership with John Henry Mares from 1848. The brewery traded as Shepherd and Mares until Mares death in 1864. Shepherd then took Percy Beale Neame into partnership in the same year, creating Shepherd Neame and Company. Neame became sole propietor following Shepherd's death in 1876. In 1919 the brewery operated as Shepherd Neame Ltd. The brewery comprises a brewhouse, which was built in 1864 and the central clock tower which was built in 1890. The brewery office building which faces onto Court Street was built in 1869 and extended in 1900 by altering the building immediately to the south in matching style. An extension to the brewhouse, the Millennium Brewhouse, was built 2000. It has two stained glass windows with beer and brewing motifs by Keith and Judy Hill of Staplehurst, Kent.The brewery plant includes two traditional mash tuns dating from 1914 and 1916 which are still in regular use, a destoner which was bought secondhand in 1920, and two steam engines which are in working order, but no longer in use. All fermentation is in modern cylindro-conical vessels and the brewery capacity is 220,000 barrels a year. Also present is a four-barrel microbrewery which was used at the Simonds Brewery Social Club in Reading.

Monument Types

• BREWERY (Medieval to Modern - 1520 AD to 2050 AD)
• MALTINGS (Medieval to Modern - 1520 AD? to 2050 AD)
• CLOCK TOWER (Post Medieval to Modern - 1869 AD to 2050 AD)
• OFFICE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1869 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The brewery was founded by Richard Marsh who had leased the site in 1678 and purchased it in 1698. But there is documentary evidence for brewing on the site in 1570 and possibly earlier - in 1520. In 1732 the brewery was acquired by Samuel Shepherd, and inherited by his son Julius in 1755. Julius modernised malt grinding and pumping on the site by the introduction of a Sun and Planet steam engine, manufactured by Boulton and Watt in 1789. This was the first steam engine to be used for this purpose outside of London. The brewery was renamed the Faversham Steam Brewery.

Julius was succeeded by his son Henry in 1819, who retired in 1844 after further developing the brewery. He was succeeded by his son, also named Henry, who went into partnership with John Henry Mares from 1848. The brewery traded as Shepherd and Mares until Mares death in 1864. Shepherd then took Percy Beale Neame into partnership in the same year, creating Shepherd Neame and Company. Neame became sole propietor following Shepherd's death in 1876. In 1919 the brewery operated as Shepherd Neame Ltd.

The brewery comprises a brewhouse, which was built in 1864 and the central clock tower which was built in 1890. The brewery office building which faces onto Court Street was built in 1869 and extended in 1900 by altering the building immediately to the south in matching style. An extension to the brewhouse, the Millennium Brewhouse, was built 2000. It has two stained glass windows with beer and brewing motifs by Keith and Judy Hill of Staplehurst, Kent.

The brewery plant includes two traditional mash tuns dating from 1914 and 1916 which are still in regular use, a destoner which was bought secondhand in 1920, and two steam engines which are in working order, but no longer in use. All fermentation is in modern cylindro-conical vessels and the brewery capacity is 220,000 barrels a year. Also present is a four-barrel microbrewery which was used at the Simonds Brewery Social Club in Reading.(1-2)

<1> Norman Barber (Brewery History Society 1994), A Century of British Brewers 1890-1990 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6449.

<2> Not applicable, SMR Kent uncatalogued index entry, Kelley's Directory of Kent, 1859 - 1938. (Miscellaneous Material). SKE6440.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Industrial Kent (Thematic Essay)