Slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse, part of the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard, built between 1854 and 1855. It is now used as a store. Constructed of red brick with Portland stone dressings, topped with a slate hipped roof featuring a ridge vent, the building is of Italianate style. The plan is rectangular, comprising a receiving house to the north and an attached butchering house. It is a single storey and has a 3:12 window arrangement. A stone plinth and impost band run around the building. The sides feature an arcade of keyed round arches containing 6/3-pane sashes; brick infill is below on the west side, while the east (quay) side has vertical timber mullions in the lower section, and rectangular eaves lights with 20th-century glazing above. A cast-iron swing hoist is located at the south end of the east side. The south return has central double doors with a flat head. The north block includes a central double door with flanking round-arched lights, and a 3-window quay side.

The main interior section has a wide timber roof with strutted queen posts, a mid-20th-century ceiling, cast-iron supports and braces, and fixtures for butchering and operating the ridge louvres. The north block has a timber king post roof.

The north section received the live animals, and the long range was used for butchering and preparing the meat. Built as an important part of the large victualling yard, it complemented the bakery and mill complex, which opened in 1832. This building represents one of the earliest large-scale industrial food processing plants in the country, reflecting the considerable scale of naval victualling operations on a key site overlooking the river.

The slaughterhouse's current location is the result of a relocation from a site adjacent to the Royal Yacht landing stage, prompted by complaints from the Royal Household regarding unpleasant odors (“offensive effluvia”) emanating from the original slaughterhouse and discharging into the harbour where the Royal Yacht moored.