British Rail Engineering Limited: Swindon Works, No 12 Shop (V Shop) , O and E Shop (32, 33 and 35 Shops)
BRITISH RAIL ENGINEERING LIMITED SWINDON WORKS, RODBOURNE ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1199356
- Date first listed:
- 18-May-1984
- List Entry Name:
- British Rail Engineering Limited: Swindon Works, No 12 Shop (V Shop) , O and E Shop (32, 33 and 35 Shops)
- Statutory Address:
- BRITISH RAIL ENGINEERING LIMITED SWINDON WORKS, RODBOURNE ROAD
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-09-09
- Reference:
- IOE01/05573/02
- Rights:
- © Dr Robert Slade. Source: Historic England Archive
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1199356
- Date first listed:
- 18-May-1984
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 11-Jan-1993
- List Entry Name:
- British Rail Engineering Limited: Swindon Works, No 12 Shop (V Shop) , O and E Shop (32, 33 and 35 Shops)
- Statutory Address 1:
- BRITISH RAIL ENGINEERING LIMITED SWINDON WORKS, RODBOURNE ROAD
- Statutory Address 2:
- NO 12 SHOP (V SHOP), RODBOURNE ROAD
- Statutory Address 3:
- O AND E SHOP (32, 33 AND 35 SHOPS), RODBOURNE ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- BRITISH RAIL ENGINEERING LIMITED SWINDON WORKS, RODBOURNE ROAD
- Statutory Address:
- NO 12 SHOP (V SHOP), RODBOURNE ROAD
- Statutory Address:
- O AND E SHOP (32, 33 AND 35 SHOPS), RODBOURNE ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Swindon (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Central Swindon North
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 14092 84876
Details
In the entries for:-
SWINDON
SU 1484 NW RODBOURNE ROAD
BREL: Swindon Works
5/147 No 12 Shop (V. Shop)
18.5.84
GV II*
--------------------------------------------
and:-
SU 1484 NW SWINDON RODBOURNE ROAD
BREL: Swindon Works
5/151 O and E Shop.
(32, 33 and 35
18.5.54 Shops)
GV II
--------------------------------------------
the entries shall be combined into one entry (at Grade II*) and
amended to read as follows:-
SU 1484 NW SWINDON RODBOURNE ROAD
BREL: Swindon Works
5/147 No 12 shop (V shop) and O and E shop
(32, 3 3 and 35 shops )
18.5.54
GV II*
Locomotive building works. 1874, extended c1879, c1885 and 1924.
Iron-framed with red brick exterior walls with limestone ashlar and
yellow brick dressings; multi-gabled Welsh slate roofs with glazed
clerestories and glazed timber-framed gable ends.
PLAN AND DEVELOPMENT: T-shaped plan has 50-bay east facade and extends
30 bays to Rodbourne Road on west side; the front (east) block was 8
bays deep to the south of the 'T' and 6 bays to the north while the
broad stem of the 'T' was a single working space 24 bays long and 18
bays wide below 6 roofing ranges. The front range contained brass
foundry and turning shops at the southern end, machine shops for
cylinders and frames flanking a wide entrance bay and the hydraulic
power centre with an accumulator tower at the extreme northern end. The
stem of the 'T' was the locomotive erecting shop and boiler shop.
The stem as broadened to the north by 8 bays (structurally 3,3 and 2)
c1879 and to the south by 6 bays c1885 and by 3 bays c1924.
EXTERIOR: One storey. The west facade facing Rodbourne Road is a long
brick frontage with arched openings. East facade articulated by yellow
brick semi-circular arches with limestone keys and impost mouldings;
segmental-arched windows, set within inner arches, over C20 windows and
late C19 horned 10/10-pane sashes; moulded cornice. Similar 8-bay south
end wall; north end wall rebuilt C20. Plain south-facing facade of 1924
extension has segmental-arched sashes and cast-iron casements with
opening lights.
INTERIOR: No 12 Shop has cast-iron columns in two tiers, the lower
heavier ones carrying crane gantry beams and brackets for line shafting;
columns support a wrought iron and glazed roof structure; there is a
surviving 20-ton crane, now electrified, with chain hoist, made up of an
inverted iron structure. Rest of 1874 structure has 2 rows of cast-iron
columns supporting wrought-iron roof construction. 19 tall columns in
each row, with large brackets to support travelling gantry cranes and.
have pierced cast-iron girders spanning between the columns for fixing
machinery, tools etc.
This building formed the centrepiece of the large-scale expansion of the
GWR works in the 1870's and an extremely impressive industrial structure
of the period. One of an important group of Victorian industrial
buildings of the GWR works. Hooters on north-east side are claimed to
have been those of the SS Great Britain.
Formerly listed as items 147 and 151-.
Listing NGR: SU1409284876
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 318809
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Large, F, Swindon Retrospect 1855-1930, (1931)
Peck, A, The Great Western at Swindon Works, (1983)
Silto, J, A Swindon History 1840-1901, ()
Hudson, K, Transport History, ()
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 25-Jun-2026 at 01:08:41.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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