VISIT TO HOOK NORTON 2004
from the article by Jim Elliott in Link No. 201, Summer 2004
On the 14th of May 2004 a group of COSME members
visited the Hook Norton Brewery, in the village
of Hook Norton, a few miles south of Banbury in
Oxfordshire. Beer has been brewed for over
150 years on the site, the present brewery being
a little over 100 years old.
All the machinery is driven by a steam engine; some time was spent
trying to discover exactly how the valve gear works.
A lot of the machinery, tanks, etc,
which are still in use were
installed
when the brewery was built,
but some had been replaced
to meet
Health and Safety regulations.
These are the liquor/water pumps.
After looking at the sack hoist drive up the
front of the building we decided that it is friction,
as this would slip if something went wrong.
One or two members passed over car keys
and started at one end of the taps and
worked along to the other end. About a
dozen of us then made a short walk down
the lane to the pub for a splendid lunch
and a very social couple of hours. After
that it was back to the brewery to stock
up on cases of beer and then home.