Letter: Sad To Think of the Demise of Local Hop Growing

Published on: 17 Sep, 2026
Updated on: 17 Sep, 2026

Hops appeared to be growing well in Puttenham in 2025. Picture by David Rose.

From David Roberts

In response to: Hop Growing Ends at Puttenham – And a History of its Cultivation in Farnham Area

In the late 18th century, the pioneering nature writer Gilbert White had much to say in his Natural History of Selborne about the cultivation of hops, as does Jenny Uglow in her fascinating recent commentary, A Year With Gilbert White. They were a major crop throughout the county border area around Farnham.

Unlike Kentish oast houses, the local drying kilns were square, like small barns. A painting by Swiss artist Hieronymus Grimm shows women and girls climbing ladders in August and September to load the hops to be dried on horsehair mats laid on wooden slats above fires set at ground level.

It is as sad to think of hop farms being swept away by executive housing as it is comforting to know that hop-pickers’ dermatitis is no longer a scourge of the local female population.

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