The Millennium brewhouse windows

Before the introduction of automated hop-picking technology in the 1960s, harvesting hops required more hands than the local population in Kent could provide. Many families from South and East London would escape London for the summer on a working holiday in Kent.

Still seen throughout the Kentish countryside and beyond, oast houses are where the hop harvests would be stored and dried through kilning ahead of them being used to impart bitterness, aroma and a preservative effect to beers as part of the brewing process.

The bines of the hops plant need to be trained (or twiddled) carefully to ensure that they will climb the high frames that are so essential to growing a bumper crop of hops flowers. Twiddlers go from bine to bine, twisting them clockwise around the framework to ensure a good yield come harvest time.

Using a piece of wood for each family harvesting hops, the Tally Man would notch each stick according to the number of bushels the family had picked to ensure that they were properly paid for their efforts.

When the brewhouse was rebuilt in 1864, the company was known as Shepherd & Mares and used this emblem featuring the white horse Invicta, the symbol of Kent.

The iconic Spitfire aircraft flew from Kent airfields throughout World War II and, in 1990, we started brewing Spitfire Premium Kentish Ale, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Originally intended as a short-run fundraiser, it proved extremely successful and is today one of our best known ales.

Bishop's finger signposts would direct pilgrims on their way towards Canterbury where Saint Thomas Becket, the patron saint of the Worshipful Company of Brewers, was martyred. This classic Kentish signpost became the inspiration for one of our best-loved beers, Bishops Finger Kentish Strong Ale.

Before the advent of the railway in Faversham in the 1850s, the Faversham creek was crucial to Shepherd Neame in terms of both importing the ingredients we needed and for shipping our beers to the lucrative London market in barges.

The earliest recorded centre of brewing in Faversham’s history, the Royal Abbey in Faversham was founded around 1148 by King Stephen and would eventually be the site of his burial.