Chevallier Barley Spreads from a Suffolk Farm Selection

In 1820, unusually promising barley plants were preserved and multiplied at Debenham in Suffolk. The best-supported account credits laborer John Andrews with growing the grain and his landlord, Charles Chevallier, with recognizing and propagating it; the precise origin of the initial seed remains unresolved. Distributed more widely after several years of multiplication, Chevallier became the dominant British malting barley of the nineteenth century and spread internationally. Its success shows how farmer selection, seed circulation, agronomic performance, and malt quality jointly shaped brewing raw materials before formal genetic breeding programs.