An Old Oast House, New Norfolk, Tasmania

pollyh, on August 7, 2008, said:

An oast or oast house is an example of vernacular architecture, though English in origin, there were many in New Norfolk,Tasmania,once famous for hop growing, in earlier days. They are farm buildings used for drying hops in preparation for the brewing process. They consist of two or three storeys on which the hops were spread out to be dried by hot air from a wood or charcoal-fired kiln at the bottom. The drying floors were thin and perforated to permit the heat to pass through and it escaped through a cowl in the roof which turned with the wind. The freshly picked hops from the fields were raked in to dry and then raked out to cool before being bagged up and sent to the brewery. The Kentish dialect word Kell was sometimes used for kilns ("The oast has three kells.") and sometimes to mean the oast itself ("Take this lunchbox to your father, he's working in the kell.").