'E' Magazine (Building 436) And Enclosing Walls

Magazine and enclosing traverse walls, built 1878–9, with some walls possibly earlier; altered. Constructed in brick laid in English bond with a felted roof.

This is a large single-storey magazine with two rows of nine internal bays, each comprising parallel barrel-vaulted chambers set within a rectangular traverse wall structure. The traverse is surmounted by an enclosing wall. At its south-east end, the magazine links to the traverse via barrel vaulting.

The south-east end of the magazine has two segmental-headed double plank doors facing similar openings in the traverse, with a stepped stone-coped band and kneelers. The gable is finished with stone coping to near-segmental profile. The returns feature five round-arched openings equipped with plank shutters to pierced tin vents and stone sills, above which runs a stone band. The wall above this is recessed, with stepped dentilled eaves and stone coping. The traverse retaining walls are plain; the wall atop the traverse is approximately 2–3 metres high, ramping up and down, with chamfered plinth, panelled outer sides, and segmental brick copings.

Interior: Each chamber retains a track from a former tramway, boarded flooring, and raised storage floors flanking a central passage with open wooden partition walls. An overhead wooden travelling crane mounted on a gantry serves all chambers. Arched openings provide access between chambers. The eastern chamber retains its timber framework of storage bays.

This magazine was built in 1878–9 and ranks among the largest examples of its type, comparable in scale only to a near-contemporary structure at Waltham Abbey in Essex. Positioned within one of Archer's demi-bastions, it was constructed following recommendations from the 1875 Magazine Committee to relocate bulk gunpowder storage away from the old core of the site, as the existing 'C' Magazine was too small. The gantry crane was modelled on an 18th-century example at Purfleet in Essex. The building was connected to the New Powder Pier (designed 1876) by a tramroad. The entrance was altered in 1886. It was built using the same principles as the original 'A' Magazine of 1770–76, which it replaced as the Depot's Deposit Magazine. The building was converted to a cordite magazine by 1913. A police post was added to its summit in 1939–40 to provide observation over the establishment.

Sited on the highest part of the establishment at Priddy's Hard, its massive construction made it a useful refuge during air raids in the Second World War.