Machine Shop And Attached Range To West At Royal Ordnance Factory

This is a small arms factory, built between 1854 and 1858 for the Board of Ordnance. It comprises a machine shop and an attached range to the west. The machine shop is constructed of yellow brick with a polychromatic facade featuring red brick dressings and alternating red and yellow brick voussoirs to the arches. It has gabled Welsh slate roofs. The building is in an L-shape, with a range of subsidiary buildings attached to the southwest of the machine shop. The machine shop’s front is in an Italianate style, with a single storey and 23 windows. A three-storey clock tower and belfry are centrally positioned, featuring blind arches on the second stage, semi-circular arches with keystones on the third stage, stone impost courses, a corbelled brick cornice beneath a hipped roof, and a semi-circular arch over a 20th-century door with a fanlight. The windows have glazing bars set in semi-circular arches, linked by a red brick impost course, with red brick corbelling beneath a frieze of diaper work and a moulded stone cornice. The right side elevation, partly in a similar style with semi-circular arches over doors and windows, has a range of nine north-light gables.

Inside the machine shop, the front section comprises 12 bays by 14 bays, defined by cast-iron columns spaced roughly 20 feet apart, supporting wrought-iron trusses with rooflights; some rooflights have been replaced in the late 20th century. The original columns are cast with the Board of Ordnance initials. A central painted brick wall divides the space; extending north of this wall, the structure continues for an additional 14 bays by 15 bays, terminating at a rear wall with round-arched windows. The majority of columns and roof construction in this area are similar in detail to those in the front section, with some bays rebuilt in the 20th century.

The range to the west, alongside the River Lea, is built of brown brick with hipped Welsh slate roofs. The two-storey east elevation, with a 26-window range, features a raised storey band and gauged flat brick arches over 12-pane sash windows. The west elevation includes a timber-framed carpenters' shop to the rear.

The machine shop was the largest and most important building erected on the Royal Small Arms site between 1854 and 1858. Its construction resulted from efforts to centralize small arms production following concerns about the performance of British-made guns during the early stages of the Crimean War.