St Nicholas Works

St. Nicholas Works is an agricultural engineering works built in 1846 for J.W. Gidney and Son. The building is constructed of Flemish bond red brick, with the north side and east end finished in roughcast. The roofs are corrugated iron with gabled ends.

The building has a long rectangular plan, with two storeys at the east end and a single storey at the west end. The west end is divided into two sections internally, though it is uncertain whether partition walls exist within the two-storey east range. The south elevation features twelve bays; six bays to the right are two-storey and six to the left are single-storey. Brick pilasters divide the bays. Segmental window openings have smaller windows on the first floor, and all retain original cast-iron windows with floral crosses at the intersections of the glazing bars. A segmentally headed doorway is located in the eighth bay from the left (in the two-storey section), featuring a plank door with elaborately scrolled cast-iron strap hinges. The north elevation has similar windows, and the east end has corresponding cast-iron windows either side of a wide doorway, with a loading doorway above, now boarded over; the ground floor window to the right has been blocked. At the west end, a small round window with a cast-iron frame is set within the gable apex, with a wide sliding door below.

The interior was not inspected, but the roof of the single-storey range retains original cast-iron trusses with pierced spandrels to the braces under the collars. The roof structure of the two-storey range is likely original, although the floor is now supported on rolled steel joists.

Jeremiah William Gidney’s firm was established in the 18th century, initially producing wire fencing and farm implements. By 1864, his son, W.T. Gidney, was using the building as an iron and brass foundry, and also operated as a whitesmith and coal merchant. In the late 19th century, the business was taken over by John Roots, who already had a large works at South Green where he operated a steam threshing machine and made agricultural implements. In 1910, Roots built a roller skating rink within the yard of St. Nicholas Works. In 1919, the premises were rented to Balding Bros., who eventually purchased the building in 1934, and it continues to be used as an agricultural engineering works.