HISTORIC BUILDINGS REPORT: THE ROYAL ARSENAL, WOOLWICH - VOL II
Author(s): Charlotte Bradbeer, Antony Calladine, Peter Guillery, Joanna Smith
The Royal Brass Foundry at Woolwich Arsenal of 1716-17 is an early industrial building of outstanding importance. It was substantially rebuilt in 177 1-4, but the precise nature of the rebuilding has not previously been traced in detail. The original form of the building has thus remained unclear. It is here shown that the Brass Foundry was originally entirely timber framed within a brick shell, and very much like a barn in its internal appearance. It comprised a long tall nave with clerestorey lighting flanked by continuous low aisles within which the foundry furnaces were housed towards the south end. A timber tower at the north end apparently accommodated a vertical gun-boring machine. The principal surviving feature of the original interior is the framing of the roof. The roof timbers are of great interest, particularly for evidence of the adaptation of conventional forms for their use as a gantry. The work of 177 1-4 involved virtually complete rebuilding of the south or furnace end of the building as well as rebuilding of the tower in brick.
- Report Number:
- 73/1994
- Series:
- Other
- Pages:
- 190
- Keywords:
- Building Recording
