Some 100 people gathered at Hogs Back Brewery, in Surrey, for the annual blessing of its hop garden and ‘beating the bounds’ walk.
The Hop Blessing took place on Ascension Day, the day on which crop blessings have been traditionally held for centuries. Rev Claire Holt, of St Paul’s Church in Tongham, blessed the crops and, with Hogs Back Brewery managing director, Rupert Thompson, led guests on the walk around the eight-and-a-half-acre hop garden.
Blessing of crops was observed in rural communities in a bid to encourage a bountiful harvest. Hogs Back revived the tradition in 2014 when it planted its original hop garden over the road from the brewery, and continued it when it relocated to the current, larger site.
Currently, the 6,000 hop plants in the Hogs Back garden are climbing up strings, spurred on by the recent rainfall, and the brewery is hoping for a good crop to harvest in late August.
Beating the bounds similarly took place around Ascension Day, when the priest would lead a group around the parish boundaries, as a way of instilling vital information. Your parish dictated how much tax you paid and where you could be buried, for example.
The ‘beating the bounds’ name may have its origins in a tradition of beating children’s heads at each of the boundary stones to drive home the information — a part of the custom that Hogs Back is not observing!
Rev Holt said: “Blessing the Hogs Back hop garden continues a tradition that would certainly have been part of the cycle of hop growing in Farnham for centuries. It gave me great joy to lead the prayers for the Hogs Back hop garden, the brewery, and all who work in them, for this year and long into the future.”
Rupert added: “The Hop Blessing is always a wonderful event, bringing together the local community to remember how important hop farming was to this region. We’re grateful, as ever, to Claire for blessing our hops, and delighted to see so many people enjoying the beating the bounds walk and a pint or two back at the brewery.
“Clearly, most people today don’t need to know where their parish boundaries lie, but centuries on from that, there is still a desire to connect with the local community and a large part of what we’re doing at Hogs Back is about building those connections, which is shown by the many local residents who volunteer to ‘twiddle’ our hop plants up the strings now, or to bring in the harvest later in the year.
“We’re enormously grateful to this army of ‘Hogs Back Hoppers’, and also to Matthew King, our hop garden manager, for his skill and dedication in tending to the hops.”
Rupert showed guests the Le May Cup, which was awarded to Hogs Back earlier this year for its White Bine hop in the Institute of Brewing & Distilling’s annual hop competition. It also received a gold award for its Fuggles hop and a silver for its English Cascade. Hogs Back is the first brewer to win the Le May Cup.
The hop blessing has always been a free event, but this year guests were asked to make a donation of £5 to the British Heart Foundation, the brewery’s chosen charity for 2024.
