Site of late 19th/early 20th century maltings, 'Saltcote Maltings', Goldhanger Road (EHER 15052)

Partially destroyed. A late 19th/early 20th century three-storey maltings designed by Fredrick Chancellor and built between 1897 and 1903. It is one of two maltings that once stood on the site. The earlier malthouse which was adjacent to the current building, but on a different alignment, was constructed sometime before 1840. Sometime between 1922 and 1958 the earlier malthouse was demolished. The remaining building was, at one time, used as a grain store before being converted to workshops in the recent past and has since been converted into dwellings.

1996. Heritage assessment. A late 19th century maltings at Saltcote designed by Fredrick Chancellor. Chancellor's original plans of the malting are held in the Essex Record Office. Completed in 1895, Saltcote's typology is a Ware pattern multi-storey type. It is a ten-bay malthouse of two storeys with attics (originally three storeys) with two pyramidal malt kilns at the south end and a barley kiln to the north. Parts of the original kiln floors survive and the steam powered conveyor/hoist systems. It is particularly significant due to the associations with Fredrick Chancellor. The standing malthouse at Saltcote, built in the 1890s, is one of two maltings that once stood on the site. The earlier malthouse which was adjacent to the current building, but on a different alignment, was constructed sometime before 1840. Sometime between 1922 and 1958 the earlier malthouse was demolished. The remaining building was, at one time, used as a grain store before being converted to workshops in the recent past and is currently undergoing conversion into dwellings. <1> 1996-1997. Malthouses in Essex survey. Large three storey twelve-bay stock brick maltings with gable ends, pilasters and red brick fenestration. There are two paired pyramidal kilns at the south end and a third free-standing kiln to the north. The maltings has characteristic small wooden louvered windows on each floor with sandstone cills and red brick lintels; some of the windows have been blocked, two modern openings have been inserted on the west wall and a single pitched two storey addition has been added to the east. The northerly kiln is approached by a gantry at the second floor level and there is a weather-boarded locum on the south gable; the kilns are held together with wrought iron ties and cast iron plates. Saltcote was erected between 1897 and 1903, and is a good example of its type. The 1897 Ordnance Survey extract shows a second malting to the northwest; this building is depicted on the 1847 tithe map, but has since been demolished. The process flow can be deduced from the surviving remains; barley was delivered and the finished malt dispatched from the south end of the building. The northern kiln may have been used to dry the barley before steeping, it was then laid on the drying floors and finally placed in the kilns at the south end. The slate roof has recently been renewed and the building is in a good state of repair, but most of the internal machinery was removed when the malting was converted to a mill. ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL: The perforated tile floors survive in the kilns at the southern end of the building. These and other features including wooden grain hoppers, parts of the conveyor system and a well for supplying the steeping tanks survive in-situ. SITE SIGNIFICANCE: This is a good example of a late 19th/ early 20th century malthouse. The building retains its external integrity and the sequence of operations can be understood from the surviving internal remains. CURRENT STATUS: None; Listing was refused in 1987. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Few maltings of this quality now survive in Essex and in order to protect a representative sample of the industry Saltcote is recommended for Grade II Listing. MANAGEMENT: A scheme of sympathetic reuse is needed in order to secure the future of this building. The malting should be recorded RCHME Level 3; the record should include a drawn plan with sections through the length and width of the building. More detailed drawings of the kiln structure and hoppers will be necessary and a full photographic record should be undertaken. Any groundworks on the site of the earlier malting should be monitored by an archaeologist. Planning consent has recently been granted whereby the malting will be converted into flats and a condition has been attached by the Local Planning Authority so that the building is fully recorded in advance of these works. The site of the earlier malting will also be evaluated by trial trenching. <2> See aerial photographs <3> <4>. 1997. Trial trenching and archaeological excavation. An excavation located the remains of the demolished predecessor to the standing malting on the Saltcote site. Probably originally built during the early 19th century, the earlier malting lay to the north of the extant building and abutted Goldhanger Road. It first appears on the Tithe map of the early 1840s but by the OS 2nd edition (1897) shares the site with the surviving building. At a point probably after the Second World War, the malting, due to a general slump in the industry, was demolished. The excavation revealed the three main walls of the malthouse showing two separate phases of construction and addition of an aisle. Two different type of post foundation, progressing from timber to cast-iron, a possible brick laid growing floor, the foundation walls of the malt kiln and various drain runs remain. Excavation revealed two separate phases of construction. The original malthouse is represented by the central and easternmost walls in Area A on which the drying kiln and linking building align, and a second phase of the malt house by the addition of an aisle on its western side. The extension of the building is suggested predominantly by changes in both building materials and construction technology but primarily by the stratigraphic relationships between the walls of the two phases. <5> NRHE data transfer: Saltcote maltings. Built about 1900. A large brick and slated building with three malting floors and three pyramidal kilns, built with sea-water access by G and F May and used for various purposes, including milling, before its present use as a road-transport depot. <6>