Carrow Works blocks 7, 7A, 8A and 8 including metal canopy attached to block 7

This is a composite group of four multi-storey factory buildings built between 1870 and 1889 for J and J Colman Ltd of Norwich. Blocks 7 and 7A were constructed around 1870 and rebuilt following a fire in 1881. Block 8 was erected around 1881, and Block 8A was built between 1884 and 1889, possibly incorporating earlier fabric. All have later 19th century and 20th century alterations, including the addition of a generator house in the narrow courtyard between Blocks 8 and 8A in 1898.

Materials and Construction

The buildings are constructed of Somerleyton red brick in Flemish and mixed bonds with dressings of yellow brick, including quoins, string courses, window and door surrounds, and some insets of white vitrified brick. Blocks 7, 7A and 8A all have slate roofs while Block 8 has a 20th century corrugated metal sheet roof.

Plan

The four buildings are all rectangular on plan with their overall composition creating an F-shaped footprint.

Exterior

Although the completion dates span some thirty years, with the earliest building dated 1870, the methods of construction and materials were largely unchanged, lending the group a great degree of architectural coherence. All four buildings are of four storeys with raised ground floors above deep basements and attics. Walls are of load-bearing brick pier construction with Blocks 7A, 8A and the north and east sides of Block 8 having round-headed recessed panels rising to second floor level, thereby creating a blind arcade effect. Block 7 and the south side of Block 8 have recessed panels rising their full height. Blocks 7, 7A and 8 all have an overhanging bracketed eaves while the eaves to Block 8A was replaced with one of cyma reversa profile in the early 20th century. Door and window openings are mainly segmental arched while the windows are timber-framed sashes with square paned glazing. In around 2014, as a means of protection, a large number of windows on the north and west sides of Blocks 7 and 8 were covered with foamex boards illustrated with a digital print of a sash window.

The following description begins with Block 7 on the west side of the complex, or the long vertical bar of the F, and thereafter continues in a clockwise direction.

Block 7 West Elevation

The west-facing principal elevation of Block 7 is fourteen bays long with a round-headed wagon entrance (now boarded) spanning its fifth and sixth bays. Directly above the arch is date stone inscribed 1870. Window openings flanking the arch are blind as are those to the fourteenth bay, the exception being a first-floor sash. A late 19th century metal canopy of segmental section spans bays nine to thirteen on the ground floor. All other bays contain timber sashes.

Block 7A West Gable End

Adjoining the left-hand end of Block 7 is the west gable end of Block 7A. Of four bays, this has a triangular-shaped pediment with a moulded stone kneeler to the right-hand side (that to the left-hand side rebuilt in brick in the 20th century), raised string and eaves courses of alternating red and yellow brick, diamond-shaped diapering in yellow brick and a round-headed window. On the ground floor, the second and fourth bay contain round-headed doorways while the full height of the left-hand end bay (except the first floor) has blind window openings. All other bays contain timber sashes covered with early 21st century foamex boards. A datestone to the second bay gives the year of construction as 1881.

North Elevation (Blocks 7A and 8)

The five-storey north elevation fronting the River Wensum is harmonious in its architectural treatment with Block 7A being of nine bays and Block 8 of six bays, the outer bays being blind, with the internal subdivision between the two buildings marked by a corbelled stone kneeler breaking the eaves. The original overhanging eaves to Block 8 was rebuilt in brick with a straight profile following bomb damage in the Second World War. From left to right, the fourth bay of Block 8 has a weatherboarded lucarne rising to the third floor (historic photographs show that it originally rose to the attic) while the sixth bay of Block 7A has a round-headed doorway to the basement (now boarded). Block 7A also has four segmental-headed dormers to the attic. All other bays contain timber sashes covered with early 21st century foamex boards.

Block 8 East Gable End

On the east side of the complex, the gable end of Block 8 has a triangular-shaped pediment with an identical treatment to that described above for its west gable end, the exception being a blind, round-headed opening at its centre. It has a moulded stone kneeler at its right-hand side while that to the left-hand side was rebuilt in brick in the 20th century. All the window openings to the right-hand end bay are blind while the centre bay has a round-headed doorway to the ground floor and infilled window openings to the first and third floors. The second floor has an enlarged window opening with a 20th century metal door. The left-hand end bay has a loading door with a metal roller shutter to the ground floor and original timber sashes above.

Block 8A East Gable End

To the left, the east-facing gable end of Block 8A also has a triangular-shaped pediment with an identical treatment to that described above for Block 8, the exception being that it has three round-headed windows to the attic. The ground floor has sliding double doors to the centre bay above which is a 20th century footbridge (not of special interest) spanning eastwards to Block 209. All other openings contain timber sashes.

Former Generator House

Standing in the courtyard between Blocks 8 and 8A is the single-storey gable end of a former generator house. As its glass and steel roof removed in the early 21st century it now largely functions as a screen wall. Containing double doors beneath a concrete lintel, it rises to a triangular-shaped pediment with a date stone giving the date of construction as 1898.

Block 8A South Elevation

The south-facing elevation of Block 8A is of nine bays of which the westmost bay is narrower and rises to a lift tower with a high brick parapet added in around 1939. All openings contain timber sashes except for a round-headed doorway with radial fanlight at the right-hand end of the ground floor. The attic has four segmental-arched dormers. At the left-hand side of Block 8A there is a four-storey recessed range, of which the upper three are of white vitrified brick, with a timber sash on each floor.

Block 7 East Elevation

The east return of Block 7 is of eight bays with the ghost of a former building that abutted this range evident across the four left-hand end bays rising up to second-floor level. All the window openings which were spanned by this building are largely infilled with brick or enlarged to create doorways to provide an internal connection with the now demolished range. The third and fourth bays rise above the eaves line to a lift tower with a blind window opening, a moulded cornice and stone-coped parapet. Most of the other openings contain timber sashes, some covered with early 21st century foamex boards.

Block 7 South Elevation

The south face of Block 7 is of three bays with the ground floor having a round-headed doorway with a radial fanlight to the right-hand side and a round-headed loading door to the left-hand side. On the first floor, the right-hand end bay has an altered window opening with a 20th century metal-framed casement beneath a round-headed relieving arch. An altered window opening to the centre of the second floor has a 20th century taking-in door with a concrete lintel.

Interior

All four buildings have a transverse beam and joisted timber floor construction. Blocks 7, 7A and 8A comprise two rows of columns supporting large timber beams across the width of each floor, creating three aisles, while Block 8 has three rows of columns across the width of each floor, creating four aisles. The columns to the basement and ground floor of Blocks 7, 7A and 8 along with the first floor of Block 8 are of cast iron and cylindrical in cross section. On the first, second and third floor of Blocks 7 and 7A along with the second and third floors of Block 8, the columns are timber and square in section, some with chamfered run-out stops.

Secondary strengthening in the form of H-section steel beams and columns were inserted in the basements and ground floors of Blocks 7 and 8 along with the first floor of Block 7 and the second floor of Block 8 in the 20th century. Block 8A differs slightly in that all the columns are of cast-iron cruciform section, possibly re-used from an earlier building that stood on the site.

All buildings have queen post roof trusses with those to Blocks 7, 7A and 8A being of limewashed timber while that to Block 8 is a 20th century steel replacement after the original was destroyed by bomb damage in the Second World War. Stairwells and lift shafts are grouped together in the south-east corner of Block 7, the south-west corner of Block 7A and the north-west and south-west corners of Block 8A. The lifts have sliding track doors to each floor while the staircases are of concrete with metal treads and handrails.