Summary
Artillery barracks and headquarters, constructed in 1891 for the 1st Lincolnshire Volunteer Position Artillery, and later converted to a printing works.
Reasons for Designation
Castle Press is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural Interest:
* As a well-articulated example of a late-C19 artillery volunteer barracks in Gothic revival style, which displays good attention to detail and skilful craftsmanship through quality stonework detailing including carved coats of arms.
* For the legibility of the interior, particularly the drill hall, which features high-quality decorative features including ironwork to the hall balcony and principal staircase.
Historic Interest:
* For its construction as an artillery barracks and drill hall for the military training of volunteers in the late-C19, later adapted for industrial purposes in the C20.
History
During the C19 Grimsby saw a period of rapid local growth, with the population increasing from 1,524 to 75,000 by 1900. The late C19 also saw the creation of much of the modern built infrastructure of the army. Local military infrastructure in the form of barracks and drill halls expanded from the late 1850s onwards as Rifle Volunteer Corps formed to defend Britain against the perceived threat of invasion from France. The institutions provided military training, rifle-shooting, fencing, and other organised sports, as well as a strong social network in local communities. Members of such organisations generally received great social cache, partly due to the uniforms and titles that came with them.
Castle Press, originally known as the Artillery Volunteer Barracks, was initially constructed in 1891 as an artillery barracks, headquarters, and drill hall according to the designs of Ernest W. Farebrother. Farebrother, who set up an independent practice in Louth in 1876 and moved to Grimsby in 1879, was the architect for several noteworthy buildings in Lincolnshire in the C19. These include the rebuilding of the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1886 (Grimsby, since demolished) and the 1888 Cemetery Chapels (Grimsby, Grade II). The Artillery Volunteer Barracks was constructed for the 1st Lincolnshire Volunteer Position Artillery, a volunteer group who were founded in 1859 and previously occupied a barracks on Market Street, before the new building was constructed for their use in 1891. They were renamed and reorganised various times over the course of their occupation of the building. After 1918 the building was sold to the Graphite Oil Company Ltd., who manufactured lubricating oils, waterproof compounds, oil paints and varnishes, water paints, fire cement, and wood preservatives. It likely remained in this use until Albert Gait Ltd. acquired the building in around 1933 and converted it into a printing works, which opperated under numerous names but was latterly known as Castle Press. Changes in the sector resulted in its closure in 2015.
Castle Press was initially constructed with an L-shaped footprint in 1891, with two detached halls to the south and outbuildings to the west. By 1963 the building had been extended westwards to the rear boundary. The remaining detached outbuildings were demolished or subsumed by 1974 when the building had been extended to the north to form its present footprint.
Details
Artillery barracks and headquarters, constructed in 1891 for the 1st Lincolnshire Volunteer Position Artillery, and later converted to a printing works.
MATERIALS: Castle Press is built of red brick with limestone ashlar details and is topped by a Welsh slate roof.
PLAN: the building is rectangular on plan and is oriented on an east-west axis with the principal elevation facing east onto Victoria Street.
EXTERIOR: the eastern façade of Castle Press consists of two storeys and seven bays, with a three-storey central bay breaking forward. The former central entrance (now sealed closed) has a four-centred arch with hoodmould, with a C20 recessed window. The spandrels contain relief carvings of coats of arms.
The ground floor features one-over-one plate-glass sash windows in ovolo-moulded reveals with chamfered ashlar sills and lintels. Bays three and five consist of paired windows, compared to the single sash windows on the outer bays. A stone frieze panel with raised bands to the top and bottom separates the ground and first floors.
The central bay on the first floor features a segmental-bowed ashlar oriel window with a moulded corbelled base, three-light mullioned and transomed window and crenelated parapet. The flanking bays have windows similar to, but shorter than, those on the ground floor.
The side bays feature a string course, crenelated parapet and merlons with alternate arrow slits and shields with arms in relief. A square turret rises from the central bay, featuring three slit-lights linked by two flush stone bands. Above is a string course, crenelated parapet with a central shield plaque, and round turret in the right corner, with a carved foliate base, flush bands and blind arrow-slits. All the parapets have moulded stone coping.
To the right of bays two and four are downpipes with ornate rainwater-heads. The roof is hipped with angle finials. It features ridge stacks with ashlar bands, panelled upper sections and stone caps. The right return has continuation of string courses and parapet, and an inserted ground-floor door with a large three-pane overlight and two first-floor windows, one an original eight-over-two sash. The left return has a tall round-headed stair window.
The range to the rear, consisting of two halls added in the C20, features ten large cross-windows and a large wooden entrance door. The eastern of these halls is also lit by five hipped skylights.
INTERIOR: the former entrance hall leads to a corridor which runs the length of the building. The original stone staircase to the south features a wooden handrail and intricate black metal balustrades, while the C20 stairs at the northern end feature red and white floor tiles and a mid-C20 wooden banister. Upstairs, in the south eastern corner is a bathroom featuring a black and red tiled floor, white marble sink, and a stained glass cubical containing a late C19 blue and white porcelain Doulton toilet and wooden seat in cast iron brackets. Along the first floor on the eastern front of the building are a series of rooms formally used as offices. These retain original doors and architraves, moulded skirting, with some featuring moulded arched niche surrounds, and cornices visible above the suspended ceiling. The principal office features C20 timber wall panelling to picture rail height, possibly of walnut. This is continued to the walls of the north corridor and C20 stairwell.
The C19 barracks hall on the ground floor features a concrete and red tiled floor with white painted red brick walls. Along the northern wall are five large arched windows, opposite which are five smaller rectangular 2/8 static windows on the southern side. Both sets were previously exterior, though have since been enclosed by later extensions. The ceiling consists of a suspended metal and wooden ceiling, with a trussed section in the south-western corner. The western end of the room has two metal shuttered doors. Above the entrance to the hall on the eastern end is a balcony, upheld by a series of decorative black metal brackets. The gallery above features an ornate metal balustrade mostly enclosed by C20 shuttering.
To the north and west of the building there have been a series of C20 extensions in the form of three single-storey halls. The first of these, directly north of the original hall, dates to somewhere between 1908 and 1933. It contains a concrete floor and English bond brick walls. The two halls to the rear of the building, constructed between 1963 and 1974, feature red tiled flooring and a mixture of brick and ashlar stone walls.
