St Nicholas Works

The following building shall be added: 1. 1067 COWPER ROAD TF 9913 3/105 St. Nicholas Works

II 2. Agricultural engineering works. Built in 1846 for J.W. Gidney and Son. Flemish bond red brick, the north side and east end are roughcast. Corrugated iron roofs with gabled ends.

Plan: Long rectangular plan; 2 storeys at the east end and single storey at the west end. The west end is divided into 2 sections inside but it is not certain whether there are partition walls inside the 2 storey east range. Exterior: 12-bay south elevation; 6 bays to right 2 storey and 6 bays to left 1 storey. The bays are divided by brick pilasters. Segmental-leaded window openings, smaller on first floor, all with original cast-iron windows, the glazing bars with floral crosses at their intersections. Segmentally headed doorway in bay 8 from left (in 2 storey section) with plank door with elaborately scrolled cast-iron strap hinges. The north elevation has similar windows and there are the same cast-iron windows on the east end either side of a wide doorway with a loading doorway above, now boarded over; the ground floor window to right has been blocked. At the west end there is a small round window with a cast-iron frame in the apex of the gable and a wide sliding door below.

Interior: Not inspected but the roof of the single storey range was seen to have the original cast-iron trusses with pierced spandrels to the braces under the collars. The roof structure of the 2-storey range is probably also original but the floor is now supported on RSJ's.

Historical Note: Jeremiah William Gidney's firm was founded in the C18 and it made wire fencing and farm implements. His son, W.T. Gidney, by 1864 was using the building as an iron and brass foundry and he was a whitesmith as well as a coal merchant. In the late C19 the business passed to John Roots who already had a large works at South Green, where he operated a steam threshing machine and made agricultural implements. In 1910 he built a roller skating rink in a corner of the yard of the St. Nicholas works. In 1919 the premises were rented to Balding Bros. who eventually bought it in 1934 and it is still used as an agricultural engineering works.

Source: Norfolk Heritage Trust.

Listing NGR: TF9906413360