Building 1, former Elsecar Ironworks casting shed

Casting house, 1850s, for the Dawes’ Elsecar Ironworks, subsequently used as a locomotive shed.

MATERIALS: brick, the southern gable incorporating the earlier stone-built ironworks boundary wall as its inner face. Modern sheet metal roofs.

PLAN: originally thought to have been two large spaces divided by a central, transverse wall, accessed via wide archways in the side walls. Now a single, undivided space accessed through the northern gable, with an inserted upper floor and store rooms at the southern end.

EXTERIOR: the western elevation (the original front) has three, broad, arched openings, the southern two being infilled, the northern now being internal to the mid-C20 lean-to extension. This extension is of four bays with large, segmentally-headed iron-framed windows. The eastern elevation has had extensive alterations, but originally appears to have had a series of tall, round arched windows (now blocked). At the southern end there is a wide arched opening (now blocked) similar to those on the west elevation which may be an early alteration. The gable ends both have three original semi-circular openings set high in the gables that are now blocked. The two locomotive entrances in the north gable, the eastern now being internal to the northern extension, are roughly inserted.

INTERIOR: the walls retain evidence of former working arrangements including various alcoves and iron fitments. The various blocked former openings are also visible internally. The roof structure retains timber king-post trusses.