Chatterley Whitfield: lamp house (9)

Colliery lamp house (9) of 1920-22, with minor mid-C20 and late-C20 alterations.

MATERIALS: a steel frame encased in brick, with stepped brickwork and copings to the gables. The roofs are asymmetrically-pitched, and have full glazing to the north-facing roof slopes and corrugated asbestos sheeting to the south-facing slopes. There are brick stacks at south-west corner and to the rear elevation.

PLAN: rectangular on plan with four single-storey parallel ranges, with later single-storey lean-tos or covered ways to the side (west and east) elevations.

EXTERIOR: the front elevation (north) comprises five bays with a shallow parapet, possibly stone. The five four-light windows have metal frames and are multi paned with concrete lintels and are set within a recessed brick panel. The west elevation has windows with metal frames and an entrance with a pair of double doors. A steel telegraph pole is fixed to the wall. There are the remains of an open-sided lean-to running the length of this elevation; the remnants of its roof supported on cast-iron columns. Towards its north end is a turnstile set into a curving brick wall. A similar arrangement of window and door openings is replicated to the east elevation, though there is a second doorway at the south end. A notice of 1964 providing man riding times in the shafts is fixed to the wall. The covered way or lean-to on this side has a part-felted and part-glazed roof which is supported by brick piers and infill panels. At the north end is a turnstile. The rear elevation has a doorway towards the right-hand end, with two windows to the left of this and a single window to the right, all set within a recessed brick panel. There is a shallow parapet above.

INTERIOR: the entrance doors open onto a large room that has a brick floor and is sub-divided by metal railings. Three of the charging stands survive, containing cap lamps and batteries. The south-east corner is divided from the rest by low brick walls and continuous glazing above; its roof is a concrete deck supported on a frame of steel beams. An internal structure of brick walls and a concrete roof occupies the northern part of the building and during the late C20 served as the museum ticket office and shop. At the opposite (south) end of the building are the toilets, a cleaner's cupboard, a heated office - formerly the lamp room manager's office, and a heated mess room. The roof comprises lightweight metal trusses and steel angle purlins, with steel uprights supporting the valley beams.