Former Cattle Lairages

Details

BIRKENHEAD

789-1/16/109 NEW CHESTER ROAD
10-AUG-92 3
FORMER CATTLE LAIRAGES

(Formerly listed as:
NEW CHESTER ROAD
ABATTOIR OCCUPIED BY TRANMERE MEAT COM
PANY)

II
Former cattle lairages to Tranmere Abattoir, 1886, possibly by TW Cubbon, mellow red brick with terracotta dressings, Welsh slate roof.

EXTERIOR: Two tall, single-storey gabled ranges (that to south is slightly taller and longer) built end-on to New Chester Road with raised, louvred roofs (louvres of north range have been removed and boarded over) and short linking section. West end elevation: Large, blind, arched windows to both ranges; those to north range are paired whilst the south range has three blind windows with raised centre light incorporating glazed lunette to upper part. Each gable incorporates a glazed sexfoil roundel window; gable to south range also incorporates stepped, raised brickwork. Terracotta window surrounds and copings. North elevation: Blocked-up doorway to ground floor left, rest of elevation is blank. Modern (2009) range to east of north range not included in listing. South elevation: Main wall set back underneath roof forming canopy, canopy supported by carved and chamfered timber brackets carried on carved stone corbels. Roundel window with pressed brick surround to upper right of elevation and set between two brackets, small blind arched window below left, small glazed arched window below right (boarded over to lower part). Tall arched entrance to centre right with glazed vertical overlight panel above (covered over) and decorative semi-circular window at head with cast-iron tracery, door replaced by roller shutter. Tall arched entrance to centre left with later roller shutter to lower part, glazed overlight panel and glazing and tracery to semi-circular window now removed. Later lean-to extension in front of south elevation with open-sided east elevation and mezzanine floor, mezzanine provides access into later inserted first floor through upper part of centre left entrance. Timber stair to eastern end of lean-to accesses mezzanine.

INTERIOR: North range: Replaced roof timbers, blocked-up arched doorway to north wall. South range: Concrete floor, original timber and metal tie bar roof structure, later inserted first floor accessed via external lean-to mezzanine.

HISTORY: Tranmere Abattoir was constructed in 1886 as a municipal abattoir, possibly to the designs of TW Cubbon. It is believed to have been one of the earliest civic slaughter houses in the country. By 1900 the abattoir was handling over 500,000 animals per year with most of the animals imported from America and Ireland. Originally located to the south of the abattoir complex were a glue works and tannery (now demolished). The two lairage ranges described above were used for cattle, including those that were suspected of disease. Three further sheep and cattle lairage ranges were originally set at a right angle to the rear, but these have since been demolished.

Following a terminal decline in the importation of livestock due to improved indigenous farming techniques and refrigeration, the abattoir was sold to a private company in 1988. A number of buildings were demolished in 1993, including the original slaughterhouse and terracotta bull and sheep heads that had adorned the slaughterhouse were sent to the Wirral Museum.

In the mid-late 1990s the site was split into two separate ownerships (no.1 New Chester Road - north abattoir structures and no.3 New Chester Road - south abattoir structures). In 2007 the entire abattoir complex was severely damaged by fire. The majority of the north abattoir structures and some of the south abattoir structures were subsequently demolished.

SOURCES
Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 'Abattoir occupied by the Tranmere Meat Company' (1993 unpublished report: NMR ref. NBR 86761).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The former cattle lairages at no.3 New Chester Road are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural quality: their design is above the purely functional, employing the use of raised brickwork, terracotta, blind arched and sexfoil windows, and a carved, bracketed canopy, and reflects the status of the abattoir and the importance of the meat trade to Birkenhead in the late C19/early C20
* Intactness: despite some later alteration the buildings remain clearly recognisable and their original function readable
* Historic interest: Tranmere Abattoir played a key role in the development of Birkenhead as a centre for the international meat trade in the late C19/early C20, and as the last surviving buildings of the abattoir, the former cattle lairages are symbolic of Birkenhead's role at the forefront of the meat trade during this period

Listing NGR: SJ3262387970

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

389258

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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