Britannia Works

Britannia Works is an engineering works, originally built as a Steam Traction Engine Works for Marshalls and Sons Co Ltd, from 1848 onwards. The building is constructed of red brick with slate and asbestos roofs. A plain brick plinth runs along the base, with plain pilaster strips delineating the bays and dentilated eaves adding detail to the top.

The west front, facing Beaumont Street, is divided into two sections. To the left is a 16-bay, single-storey machine shop, featuring a tall, round-headed window with a keystone in each bay; the first bay is blind. To the right is a two-storey, 16-bay office block. An off-centre doorway, set within an elaborate round arch topped by a parapet and crowned by a statue of Britannia, provides the main entrance. The office block has four round-headed windows with keystones and dentilated impost bands to the left, and nine above. A further seven-bay, two-storey office addition extends to the right, with an off-centre doorway in a simpler style.

The south front includes a two-bay, two-storey office section with round-headed windows, keystones and cill bands. This is followed by a twelve-bay, single-storey section with a continuous attic and a tall, round-headed window in each bay. Three gabled ends follow: one three-bay, one four-bay, and one three-bay, all featuring tall, round-headed windows topped by pediments. Further gabled ends include a two-bay, a three-bay and a four-bay section, each containing a circular window and topped by a pediment. A curved gabled entrance, also topped by a pediment, marks the end of this elevation.

The east front, facing Station Road, is a single-storey section of 35 bays, with a tall, round-headed window in each bay, most now boarded. The 12 bays on the right are topped by square furnace chimney stacks. Beyond this are three gabled ends, two of three bays and one of five bays, all blind with a window in each pedimental gable.

The north front, facing Spring Gardens, features an eight-bay blind section, followed by an entrance, a five-bay section, and then a four-bay section, each including tall, round-headed windows with keystones. A small, two-storey, two-bay section follows, with flat-headed ground floor windows and segment headed windows above. Finally, a 20th-century, 16-bay, two-storey section with metal framed windows and ashlar lintels is visible; the final two bays have been altered to add an entrance.