‘Types’ of oasts and hop kilns

The widely known image of an oast or hop kiln is of a group of kilns with tall, round or square roofs and white cowls on top. But hop kilns were not always like that. This chapter identifies a series of ‘types’, a typology of buildings used for drying hops, as they evolved between the 16th century and modern times. A ‘typology’ refers to the classification of a subject into categories, each with distinct characteristics. A landowner and politician, Viscount Torrington, asked in 1845 whether any two oasts were alike. Gwen Jones and John Bell, in their book on the