Royal Worcester Porcelain Works: Pan Grinding Shop And Attached Buildings

The Royal Worcester Porcelain Works includes a pan grinding shop along with an attached engine house, boiler house, and chimney. Built between 1862 and 1870 for the Royal Porcelain Company, the complex was modified around the 1970s. It is constructed of red brick and features slate roofs.

The layout consists of a long, narrow range running from west to east, with a three-storey grinding house, a two-storey engine house, and a single-storey boiler house, which has a hexagonal brick chimney. The exterior of the grinding shop displays rusticated pilasters with recessed panels and segmental windows in the bays, along with parapets on all buildings. The boiler house features paired, divided segmental windows set within segmental-headed recessed panels.

Inside, the pans used for grinding bone remain intact, along with their devices on two floors, which are made of cast iron and jack arch construction. The ground floor serves as an undercroft for the gear drives. The engine house floor is also intact, showcasing the heavy joist that supported the engine beam and the gap for the beam itself. A cantilevered stair and early electrical switchgear are present. The boiler house underwent modifications in the late 20th century with the addition of gas-fired calcinating kilns.

This site is one of only two known intact examples of this type of building, the other being Shirley's Etruscan Bone and Flint Mill in Etruria.