Soho Engine Shed, originally Kilburns' warehouse

Summary

Warehouse, built in 1826 to take advantage of the Stockton & Darlington Railway having opened the previous year, subsequently used as part of Soho Works, the locomotive works established by Timothy Hackworth.

Reasons for Designation

Soho Engine Shed, originally Kilburns’ warehouse, is included on the List at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* built in 1826, it is one of the earliest railway-associated industrial buildings in the world, the later C19 alterations as a locomotive paint shop adding architectural interest.

Historic interest:
* for illustrating that from an early date, railways prompted new development and enterprises;
* the association with Soho Works, the pioneering locomotive works established by Timothy Hackworth, being the only surviving industrial building used by the works;
* being one of the structures preserved in 1975 as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

Group value:
* one of a group of early railway related structures in Shildon, dubbed the ‘cradle of the railways’.

History

Soho Engine Shed was built in 1826 for Messrs Kilburn of Bishop Auckland as an iron merchant’s warehouse, taking advantage of the opening of the adjacent Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) in 1825. It is thought to be the oldest surviving railway related building in Shildon. In 1842 it was leased by the Soho Works which lay immediately to the north. These works were established in 1833 by Timothy Hackworth (1786-1850) and, under the management of his brother Thomas (1797-1877), built many early steam locomotives for the S&DR and other railways both in England and abroad.

Timothy Hackworth was the S&DR’s first Superintendent of Engines and one of the key individuals who was responsible for the success of the company, influencing the early development of railways. An 1850 plan of Soho Works depicts the building, although it is one of the few that is unlabelled. In 1855 the S&DR purchased the Soho Works from Thomas Hackworth, also buying what later became the Soho engine shed from Kilburns. Shortly after the 1857 survey for the first edition Ordnance Survey map, the building was converted into a locomotive engine shed that was entered from the north-west by a siding off the Surtees branch line, possibly when the S&DR merged into the North Eastern Railway in 1863. Subsequently, at least ten more locomotives were built at Soho Works before production was transferred to the locomotive works in Darlington in 1871, however locomotive maintenance still continued at Shildon into the early C20: the Soho Engine Shed was retained as a locomotive paint shop, with paint-drying being facilitated by an underfloor heating system. It is recorded that two locomotives a week were being repainted in Soho Engine Shed in the 1870s. Map evidence indicates that the paint store and tall chimney attached to the south-east gable were added between 1857 and 1895.

The building was later taken over by Shildon Railway Institute, being used as a gymnasium for a nationally renowned boxing academy and the practice room for Shildon Works Silver Band. In 1975 it was one of the buildings which became part of Shildon’s railway museum.

Details

Warehouse converted into a locomotive shed. Built in 1826 for Messrs Kilburns iron merchants, leased in 1842 to Timothy Hackworth’s Soho Works, converted to a locomotive shed after the 1855 purchase by the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

MATERIALS: roughly coursed sandstone rubble with dressed quoins, Welsh slate roof.

PLAN: an undivided shed for two standard-gauge lines entering via the north-west gable, a chimney and a single-celled lean-to attached to the south-east gable.

EXTERIOR: the main building is a tall, nine-bay shed, the end bays being blind, the other seven bays have regular, high-set, lintelled windows with external shutters. Gables are coped, supported by shaped kneelers. The north-west gable has a large opening formed with a timber lintel supported by a central post, each side of which there is a pair of double doors wide enough to accommodate a locomotive. Above there is a square ventilator and a lamp hung on a cast iron bracket. Attached centrally to the south-east gable is a tall, stone-built, square-sectioned chimney which has a short upper section that tapers from an overhanging course. Projecting from the gable on the north side of the chimney is the paint store, a small extension with a lean-to roof. This has a pedestrian door in the south-west wall, but no other openings.

INTERIOR: the shed retains two standard-gauge railway lines, both with shallow inspection pits, running the length of the building. Central to the south-east end there is a large hearth served by the chimney. To the north-east is the substantial iron door to the paint store, this store having a fire-proofed roof of stone flags supported on iron joists.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

112203

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, GT, A Railway History of New Shildon, (2019)
Hopkin, Dieter, Early Railways 4: Papers from the fourth early railways conference, (2010), 298

Other
Archaeo-Environment “The 1825 Stockton and Darlington Railway: Historic Environment Audit” report for Durham County Council, Darlington Borough Council and Stockton Council, (2016)

End of official list entry

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