Goods Shed East South East Of North Road Station

Goods Shed East South East of North Road Station, Darlington

This goods shed was built in 1833 by Thomas Storey for the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company and was altered and extended in 1839-40 by John Harris. It is constructed of coursed square sandstone rubble with freestone dressings under Welsh slate roofs.

The building is a single-storey double-pile structure with a central valley and clock tower. Goods arrived by railway on tracks that entered the building transversely and passed through it across its width.

The south elevation represents the original 1833 building. It contains eight bays with eight round-headed openings of two types: taller openings with narrow keystones, probably for vehicles, and lower openings with slightly broader keystones that probably held windows. Present windows have small panes with iron glazing. The openings are divided by finely tooled pilasters forming reveals to the vehicle openings and rock-faced where they flank windows. A square ashlar clock tower rises through the central valley with angle pilasters and Doric entablatures. The original clock faces on all sides of the tower are now missing, but the surrounding raised voussoirs remain.

The north elevation represents the 1839-40 extension. It replicates the south elevation with similar but not identical detailing, though it is now much altered. It contains eight bays with three surviving shoulder-arched openings with narrow and broad key blocks and similar margined and rock-face pilasters. Two windows with small panes and iron glazing remain. Other openings have been enlarged with timber lintels and are now square-headed with some large doors for machinery.

Internally, the original north wall of the 1833 building survives in the eastern half and contains one high vehicle arch identical to its partner on the south elevation. Three cast iron columns on stepped stone footings have replaced the original wall in the western half. The building is divided by a north-south wall that appears to be original to the 1839-40 enlarged building. The base of the clock tower is visible in the eastern half with an internal wooden doorway giving access to the clock mechanism, supported by massive timbers in the western part. Moderately low-pitched double-span hipped roofs with bolted king posts cover the building; the western roof is obscured by a boarded ceiling.

Two brick buildings were attached to the east end of the north elevation and to the western gable in the 1950s and 60s and are not of special interest.

The building stands at the eastern side of the North Road site, developed by the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company between 1831 and 1853. It was the first building erected on this site and was designed by Thomas Storey as the main goods handling facility for the railway, originally known as the "merchandise Station". Contracts were let in November 1832 and the building was completed in 1833. In 1839-40, it was doubled in size by John Harris's northern extension and associated clock tower, which had been planned at Darlington since 1838. In 1857, the goods shed ceased to be the main point of goods handling for the railway. Between 1870 and 1898, it was converted into a fire station. In 1951, the fire station was converted into a depot for the maintenance of railway vehicles.

This goods shed is of special interest because of its early date, its importance in pioneering goods station design, and its rarity as a surviving example from the first generation of the Railway Age. It possesses clear group value as a component of the Stockton & Darlington railway terminal complex, the world's first modern railway.