In 1800 there were 141 acres of hops in Froyle and in
1855 a village directory stated that “there are hop-yards on
all the farms.” Remnants of the industry, which has almost
died out, can still be seen around the village in the form
of oast houses - once used for drying the hops. Children
were expected to join their families for hop picking and
everyone earned 1¼d a bushel. It was hard work but the
children particularly liked going up to the kilns when the
hops were drying and roasting apples and potatoes in the
fires.
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