Engine House To Former London And North Western Railway Goods Warehouse

Engine house and accumulator tower, circa 1877, built for the London and North Western Railway Company. The building provided hydraulic power to drive hoists in the adjacent goods warehouse.

The engine house is constructed in Italianate style from red brick with stone dressings, blue brick plinth and banding, white brick cornice, and slate roofs. It comprises two parallel tall single-storey ranges aligned east-west, parallel to Bowerfold Lane, with a square accumulator tower attached to the south-west corner.

Both ranges have deep stepped blue brick plinths to the north, east and west elevations, with a blue brick band running along the south elevation facing Bowerfold Lane, where the road level is higher than the building's ground floor. The north elevation, facing into the yard, contains three bays with a large doorway in the left bay, finished with an iron lintel on stone imposts and timber double doors. A projecting rolled steel joist sits at high level above this doorway. The two ranges are covered by similar double-pitched slate roofs; the northern roof has a raised central skylight at the ridge, while the southern roof has a central skylight with projecting square ventilators on either side.

The east and west elevations feature symmetrical gables with blue brick banding to the apex and stone coping. The south elevation has a blue brick band at eaves level with stone coping. The south range has a tall round-headed doorway with a modern metal roller shutter.

The accumulator tower has a deep stepped blue brick plinth and pyramidal roof with deep overhanging eaves. It is finished with blue brick quoining and white brick cornice with double brackets. Three blind round-headed windows sit at clerestorey level on each elevation, with blue brick keystones and sill bands; the central windows on the north and south faces are louvred. The north elevation contains a large raised doorway accessed by steep stone steps, with timber double doors and a presently blocked oculus above.

Internally, the two ranges are linked by a round-arched doorway at the west end of the dividing wall. The north range contains machine-sawn trusses of queen post design and retains two hydraulic pumps manufactured in 1932 by The Hydraulic Engineering Company Ltd of Chester and London, driven by electric motors made by the Electric Construction Co Ltd of Wolverhampton. Pipework remains in cavities beneath the floor. At the east end is the rolled steel joist, set on a stone block in the dividing wall. The south range is largely empty but has a series of pulleys projecting from the north and west walls at high level. A raised stand with stone steps stands against the west gable wall, with a metal wall ladder to roof level and a cut-off water pipe passing through to the accumulator tower. The south range features machine-sawn trusses of king post design with raking struts. Either side of the doorway are huge stone blocks set high in the wall.

The accumulator tower retains its original water cylinder and associated chain, pulley and lever system.

The modern metal safety fence at the east end of the north range and the electricity substation equipment are not of special interest.