Laboratory Building, E Range And Attached Rolling Way

The Laboratory Building, E Range, and the attached Rolling Way at Priddy’s Hard date to 1847/8, with the Rolling Way added around 1879. The buildings are constructed of brick in Flemish bond, with a stone plinth to the earlier sections, and have slate roofs, with some corrugated steel.

The two-storey laboratory block features five large casements at each level, each with brick voussoir heads, and plain gable ends. On the harbour-facing side, the lower storey is covered by the roof of the Rolling Way, which returns across the southeastern end to an outer gable. This gable provides access via a pair of framed plank doors set within a cambered brick voussoir head. Along the return, the Rolling Way incorporates a similar pair of doors and a four-pane light window. The section along the flank of the laboratory has a corrugated steel roof, and the Rolling Way contains blocked window openings.

The interior of the Rolling Way features timber king-post trusses.

Originally intended to be a single-storey building, an extra floor was subsequently added to the laboratory block. Initially a carpenters’ shop, it was converted into an examining room by 1880. The Rolling Way connected the northernmost 'C' Magazine with the Shell Store of 1879 at the southern end of the site. It was part of a tramway system developed from the 1860s, linking the 'C' Magazine to the Laboratory and associated shell-filling complex, extending to the front and rear of this building; the rear section connects to the Case Store to the south of 'B' Magazine.

The magazines and related structures at Priddy's Hard date from the late 18th century, with significant expansion from the mid-19th century linked to the development of land and sea artillery, and the navy's transition to new technologies. The site represents the best-preserved range of structures relating to this history and Britain's role as a global sea power.