| Over the centuries
the growing of hops played an important part in the prosperity
of the village. In 1800
there were
141 acres of hops and
an 1855 directory states that “there are hopyards on all the farms”.
Nowadays there are hardly any. These pictures show what hop gardens (as they were referred to locally) and the people who worked there looked like. Some of the locations are unknown - they are just referered to as “Froyle” - if you recognise them, please let us know! The links at the bottom of the page will take you to stories and personal recollections about the hop industry in Froyle. The New Street hop pickers link tells of the experiences of a group of hop pickers from Andover in Hampshire who travelled each year to work in Mr Duncan’s hop gardens at Coldrey. Click on the pictures to enlarge them - click on the enlargement to close its window |
