Longlands Estate Workshops And Clock Tower

Estate workshops and offices built between 1850 and 1856, designed by G.A. Dean for the Longlands Estate. The complex is constructed in yellow Holkham brick with stone dressings and Welsh slate roof coverings supplemented by some corrugated iron. Minor twentieth-century alterations have been made.

The main range runs east-west and includes, from north to south, the wheelwrights' and carpenters' shop, clerk of works office with clock tower, blacksmiths' shop, and engine house. Additional timber and waggon sheds extend eastward, with enclosed workshops for plumbers, painters, glaziers, masons and slaters positioned around a second yard. Open-sided sawing sheds and timber stores complete the complex.

The east elevation of the main range is the principal façade. The clerk of works office is two storeys high with a prominent clock tower at its centre, topped by a pyramidal lead roof and octagonal bellcote with finial and weathervane. A verandah with slated roof fronts the office. The office features a tripartite window on the first floor with pilaster mullions and semi-circular arched heads. To the north, the wheelwrights' and carpenters' shops are entered through double-arched doorways with a tripartite window between them; the first-floor carpenters' shop above has three further tripartite windows and three ridge ventilators. To the south, the blacksmiths' shop features a central sliding door with original runners, with double-width arched windows in original door openings either side. A square chimney with decorative cap stands at the north end. The engine house at the south end is entered through a single-width door beneath a triangular pediment, with two 6-light windows and one 6-light window beneath brick arches to its right and left respectively, a pair of 9-light windows in the south gable, a slated ventilator above, and a ventilation clerestorey in the roof. A coal house sits between the engine house and blacksmiths' shop.

The west elevation of the main range is two storeys high at the carpenters' shop with a goods-handling platform opening into the first floor. A double window and part-glazed double door are positioned to the south. The office overlooks the builders' yard through a central ground-floor bay window and tripartite window above. To the north are a double-arched doorway and three tripartite windows. A lean-to machine shop, now infilled but originally open-fronted, extends to the south. A tall, tapering red brick chimney on a stone base serves the engine house at the corner.

The timber and waggon sheds on the north side of the yard are open-fronted and extend westward from the main range. Opposite the main range stand enclosed workshops for plumbers and painters or glaziers, with lean-to stores behind, wide double doors, and chimneys at the east and west ends. At the western end is a masons' and slaters' enclosed workshop with privies to the rear. East of the glaziers' shop is a long range, mostly open but with some recent enclosure. The west side comprises a 3-bay open shed and separate 11-bay open timber store. The south side has a 7-bay open-sided sawing shed to the rear of the engine house.

The engine house interior contains a single cast-iron roof truss supporting iron laths for roof slates. A single-cylinder steam engine by Garrett of Leiston, dating to circa 1914, is mounted on a boiler with circular firebox; this engine, last used in 1963, powered the sawmill, machine shop, and machinery in a nearby barn through underground line shafting. Further metal trusses are found in the adjacent room and coal store. The coal store also houses a cylindrical water tank.

The blacksmiths' shop features a double hearth in the north wall and four iron roof trusses with iron laths. A wide door in the rear wall opens to a lean-to machine shop with line shafting still in place.

The ground floor of the carpenters' workshop contains five bays of brick vaulting along its length. Above, a single workshop with seven iron roof trusses is well lit by windows along both side walls. A pivoting oak crane hoist for loading timber occupies the upper floor. A service ladder provides access to the clock tower, with wooden casing for the chain mechanism of the clock located in the staircase at the end of the workshop.

This workshop complex represents an outstanding survival of a planned integration of office administration, building material storage and processing facilities, and powered workshop provision designed for an improving estate. Original drawings by Dean survive for the complex.