Former Mustard Seed Drying Shed

Former Mustard Seed Drying Shed

This is a former mustard seed drying shed built for Colman's of Norwich in 1890 and extended in the early 20th century. It is a rectangular-plan building with a curved north-west corner, standing two-and-a-half storeys in height over a half-sunken basement.

The roof comprises three hipped roofs laid out on a north-south axis, covered in slate. An early 20th-century extension rises one-and-a-half storeys above the middle roof, stepped back and surmounted by a pitched roof. A pitched-roofed lucam projects from the south slope of the middle roof at second and first floor levels, clad in corrugated-iron sheeting and supported by cast-iron brackets over the ground floor. The eaves project on shallow brackets above a gault-brick eaves course.

The walls are constructed of red Somerleyton brick laid in Flemish bond with yellow gault brick dressings. A polychromatic three-course band of gault and red brick separates the ground and first floors. The basement is cement rendered. The walls of the early 20th-century extension are slate-hung. The curved north-west corner accommodates the former railway line which curved south-west around the building. The north elevation formerly had a goods entrance (now blocked) with a date stone inscribed '1890'. The west elevation has late 20th-century steel steps leading to a gault-brick door surround containing double-leaf panelled doors. The south elevation has double-leaf half-glazed doors at ground floor and basement levels.

The building features ten bays of windows on the west elevation and nine bays on the north and south elevations, including the curved bay at the north-west corner. The windows are segmental-headed with substantial glazing bars, and the central six panes pivot open as casement windows. Window openings on the east elevation were blocked when the building was extended around 1920. A warehouse extension was added to the east around 1920 and was demolished in the late 20th century, with a partial remainder on the north-east corner.

The interior has wooden floors supported by cast-iron pillars and retains a high proportion of mid 20th-century industrial machinery. The ground floor contains mid 20th-century dresser machines manufactured by Robert Boby Ltd of Bury St Edmunds, driers, holding tanks, storage tanks for white and brown seed, elevators, weighers, hoppers, bagging equipment, and a mid- to late 20th-century control panel. The curved north-west corner is partitioned as an office. The first floor retains a receiver from the silos and cyclones on its west side, seed spirals on the east side, and dressers, driers, and storage tanks in the central section. Three metal doors manufactured by Crittall of Braintree were introduced along the east wall around 1920. An early 20th-century plain wooden stair leads from the first floor to the second floor, which has clerestory windows and retains driers, holding bins, elevators, and a conveyor discharging into storage tanks for brown and white seed. From the west side of the second floor, another early 20th-century plain wooden stair leads to the attic, which retains elevators and holding bins.