Rifle Range Target Wall at Burton Meadows

Former rifle range target wall, built circa 1914.

MATERIALS: of brick with a cast-iron facing to the central stop wall.

EXTERIOR: the target wall stands on a north-west to south-east alignment and measures c61m in length. Its principal south-west face has a symmetrical composition comprised of a central stop wall with flanking screen walls. The stop wall is recessed with spayed ends and a raised top section. Bolted to its lower half are three rows of rectangular cast iron panels which, along with the exposed brick walling above, display copious bullet holes. To the left-hand re-entrant wall, which links the target wall to the left-hand screen wall, there are ground- and first-floor doorways to the former target store at the rear. The right-hand re-entrant wall is blind. The flanking screen walls are supported by five lateral buttresses with offsets, all placed at regular intervals. Each end also has a single lateral buttress with offsets. To the rear, the screen walls are again supported by lateral buttresses while the stop wall is supported by battered buttresses, all with offsets. All the copings and offsets are of blue brick with some stone to the offsets at the rear of the stop wall. At the right-hand side, in the re-entrant angle between the target wall and screen wall, stands the former target store. Of two builds, it is a two-storeyed structure with slate roofs and cambered-headed window and door openings to its north-west and north-east faces. At the left-hand side, again in the re-entrant angle, is a single-storeyed building with a late-C20 extension. It is constructed from brick with a cambered-headed window to the original section and a flat-headed doorway with a concrete lintel to the addition. Both ranges are covered with a late-C20 reinforced concrete roof.

INTERIOR: the former target store has a blue brick floor. The original section contains the handle and pulley wheel from the mechanised target system. Its ceiling beams still survive, although the floorboards have been removed, and its roof is comprised of a single queen post truss. In the later addition, the ceiling beams have been removed. Its roof is formed of a single king post truss with rafter ends resting on brick corbels. The single-storeyed range at the left-hand side has plain brick walls and no features of note.