Midland Railway Goods Shed and associated weighbridge

Summary

Goods shed and offices, 1867-1868, designed by the Midland Railway architect’s department, led by John Holloway Sanders.

Reasons for Designation

The Midland Railway Goods Shed, 1867-1868, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* an architecturally striking and functionally effective building, carefully-composed and skilfully-articulated in polychromatic brick, and internally well-lit and laid out with minimal obstruction;
* functionally legible, with modes of use and circulation, and the relationship between administrative and industrial areas remaining evident;
* surviving well, and an exemplar of the building type.

Historic interest:

* an excellent representation of Midland Railway’s house style, tailored to an urban setting.

Group value:

* as part of a collection of listed C19 railway buildings around Shrub Hill.

History

The Midland Railway Goods shed was built to the south of Worcester Shrub Hill Railway Station in 1867-1868. Shrub Hill opened in 1852 and was constructed and operated as a joint venture between the Midland Railway and the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, which later became part of the Great Western Railway company. The handling of goods, however, was undertaken separately, and thus each company had their own goods sheds and yards.

The construction of Midland Railway’s goods handling facilities was authorised by the Midland Railway Additional Powers Act 1863, and it was opened on 17 April 1868. The building would have been designed by the Midland Railway’s architect’s department at Derby, during which period John Holloway Sanders was the Chief Architect. Its distinctive detailing is characteristic of Midland Railway buildings of the period.

The shed, which stands in its own yard, had sidings along the east elevation and traversing the shed, enabling rail-side and internal loading. Since the facility closed in 1988, the rails have been removed, along with the internal platforms, though the large arched openings indicate the modes of use. Carriageway arches on the west side would have admitted horse-drawn wagons, and latterly, motorised vehicles. The goods shed has a vaulted basement; loading was from above, via two large hatches in the ground floor. Any associated winches and/or cranes have been removed. A weighing scale survives in the basement.

The yard retains a weighbridge by Pooley of Birmingham; the associated office has been lost. Other buildings were added in late C19; stables and other ancillary structures have been removed, though the horse-keeper's horse survives.

Details

Goods shed and offices, 1867-1868, designed by the Midland Railway architect’s department, led by John Holloway Sanders.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in a variation of English bond, with buff and blue brick detailing.

PLAN: the goods shed stands to the south of Shrub Hill station, on the west side of the tracks.

It is a rectangular building orientated roughly north-south in line with the railway tracks. The narrower office block projects from the southern end of the building.

EXTERIOR: the main range of the goods shed is a single-storey building with a basement. The long elevations are symmetrical compositions of seven gabled bays. On the east, rail-side, elevation, the central bay has a segmental-arched carriageway opening, with a blind oculus above. Flanking bays have a tripartite arrangement of blind arcading, with the taller central opening containing an arched window. Metal-framed windows have a distinctive pattern of glazing bars comprising margin lights with X-shaped bars. All arches are lined in buff brick, which continues as an impost band, and carriageways have curved jambs lined in blue brick; massive timber sliding doors survive in some carriageway openings. The gabled parapet is lined in buff brick, with a blue brick dentil cornice. The west elevation is similarly detailed, but its bays alternate between carriageway openings and windows. The north and south elevations have wide carriageway openings at either side; in between, on the north, there are three windows, and on the south the projecting office building. The roof, originally slate, has been re-clad in modern materials, and has apex lanterns to each pitch. A section of the roof has been raised to accommodate a climbing wall.

The attached office is a two-storey building with a hipped slate roof and an apex stack. It has six bays with arched openings, with scaled-down detailing matching the shed: buff brick arches and impost band, with the distinctive patterned glazing and a blue brick dentil cornice. Windows are timber sashes. The fourth bay on the west elevation contains a modern door with a glazed overlight. The south elevation is blind on the ground floor, with three windows above.

INTERIOR: the interior of the goods shed was designed to be a simple, open-plan space, enabling unobstructed movement of goods and vehicles, well-lit by roof lights and windows. The principal structure survives unaltered: a single row of iron columns with flanged heads runs centrally along the length of the building supporting rivetted cross beams, which in turn support irons trusses to the pitched roof of each bay. The space has been temporarily subdivided and partitioned.

The basement is divided into 14 bays. Thick brick walls and vaulted brick ceilings support the floor above, designed to bear great loads. The cross walls have segmental arched openings, some of which have been blocked. There are two hatches to the ground floor; both are blocked, though that in bay seven retains a sliding trap door and chain. There is a weighing scale and floor plate, and a plaque “TO WEIGH 20 CWT”.

The office building has a connecting door to the main shed, in addition to the principal external door on the west elevation. The internal plan form has central stair hall, with a room to either side on each floor. The stair has stick balusters and a moulded timber handrail, terminating in a volute above a cluster of balusters and a slender iron newel post. It has an open string with decorative moulding. Each of the principal rooms have a chimneybreast, which converge in the loft rising to the single stack.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: there is a weighbridge at the entrance to the yard, bearing the name of the maker: Pooley of Birmingham.

Sources

Books and journals
Minnis, J, Hickman, S, The Railway Goods Shed and Warehouse in England, (2016)
Mitchell, V, Smith, K, Worcester to Birmingham: Via Kidderminster (Western Main Line), (2007)
Gough, John, The Midland Railway: A Chronology, (1989), 245

Websites
Worcester Civic Society, No 2 Midland Rd Railway Yard, accessed 22/08/2022 from https://www.worcestercivicsociety.org.uk/no-2-midland-rd-railway-yard/
Worcestershire and Worcester City HER, Midland Railway Goods Shed (Station) HER Reference: WCM98148, accessed 22/08/2022 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MWR26889&resourceID=1035
Rail around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Worcester Shrub Hill Station, 1952-present, accessed 22/08/2022 from http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/worcs_shrub_hill.php

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