The Boiler House, Chimney, Sawmill and Joiner's Shop, Englefield Estate Yard

The Boiler House, Chimney, Sawmill and Joiner's Shop, Englefield Estate Yard

A 19th-century estate complex comprising a boiler house with attached chimney, engine house, sawmill and joinery shop, recorded as operational in 1853. These buildings form part of a wider grouping of estate structures dating from the mid-19th to early 20th century, built within an L-shaped walled yard around two roughly rectangular spaces with additional flanking buildings to the west of the entrance. The yard lies along the village street approach to Englefield House through farmland, flanked by 19th-century estate cottages and the parish church, which dates to the 13th century and was substantially restored by G G Scott between 1857 and 1868. The former gas house to the north of the sawmill and joinery shop, the timber store, and the estate museum are excluded from the listing as they are not of special architectural or historic interest.

The building is predominantly one and two storeys in height, constructed in English bond brick at ground floor level with timber-framing to the first floor joinery shop, covered by hipped pantile roof with east-west ridge orientation.

The southern yard front features ten bays defined by brick buttresses at ground floor level and timber posts to the first floor. Between these divisions are continuous horizontal bands of glazing across the upper half of the walling, many retaining original tiered pane arrangements set between vertical glazing bars. The lower walling is of brickwork at ground floor and tarred horizontal boards to the first floor. Near the centre is an external staircase with brick body and renewed concrete treads, approached from the right, leading to a first floor entrance to the joinery shop.

The eastern end is clapboarded with wide taking-in doors at both floor levels. The western end has a similar arrangement of doors, with the ground floor door positioned to the right and a small window to the left. Adjacent to this, the single-storey engine room and boiler house range has brick walls constructed in English and Flemish bonds, with plank doors and horizontal-sash windows. The brickwork shows indications of alteration. A sliding door is located at the southern end of this range.

The north front is entirely of brick, with the projecting western wing to the right housing the engine room and boiler beneath a half-hipped roof with boarded gable end. The eastern flank of this wing features a large opening permitting covered storage. The square boiler chimney is attached to the western flank of this wing.

Both floors comprise one uninterrupted space. At ground floor level, tree trunks enter at the eastern end to be sawn into planks, which are then removed westward to storage. A modern electric Stenner band saw occupies the floor centre, replacing the original saw which would have been driven by belts from a steam-powered engine housed in the adjacent engine house. The shaft and principal wheel from this engine project into the sawmill space and are enclosed by wooden partitions. Suspension shafts and wheels for drive bands hang from ceiling joists on the north side. The Stenner band saw is served by a raised runway with rollers aiding timber movement and positioning.

The western projecting wing contains the engine room, housing a single-cylinder reciprocating steam engine installed in 1900, made by Ransom Sims and Jefferies. Adjacent to the north is a room containing a Siemens boiler of Cornish type, manufactured of Butterley iron and partly dismantled before October 2018. The building also contains a second steam engine built in 1863 by Clayton and Shuttleworth of Lincoln, relocated to this site from another estate farm in 1900. Both engine and boiler rooms have brick walls and fire-retardant vaulted ceilings.

The first floor joinery shop features glazing to three sides. Roof trusses have arched braces beneath tie beams supporting angle braces rising to connect with exposed purlins. A small overseers' office occupies the south-west corner, partitioned in wood with glazed upper walls and door.