Engine Sheds, Stack And Turntable

Railway-engine sheds, built in the later 1870s for the Cornwall Mineral Railway. The complex is constructed primarily of red brick with dry slate roofs, although many have been replaced with corrugated asbestos or felted. The engine sheds are arranged in a fan-shaped plan of nine, radiating to align with a central turntable. A wing behind the central portion is deeper and wider, linked to a long range of sheds at a right angle to the rear left, beyond which stands a tall chimney stack and a parallel leat (a small artificial channel for carrying water).

The main workshop range includes a two-storey administration block centrally, featuring a hipped slate roof with a central stack behind a brick parapet and a modillion cornice. The front has pilasters and round-arched keyed window openings, with a central elliptically-arched doorway. Original first-floor windows are horned sashes. The complex’s windows are predominantly original iron windows with glazing bars, and the bays are divided by pilaster buttresses. The range to the left of the central block features segmental arches over eight windows and five doorways. The symmetrical eight-window front on the right has round arches and a central doorway, with fanlight heads over the windows. The symmetrical gable end to the front right has similar windows, including a central window within a round-arched recessed panel above a segmental-arched doorway, and a further window to the right. The rear ends of the engine houses have two windows each. The fronts of the engine houses retain their original large doors with V-jointed boards. Other elevations display similar features and detailing. A tall, tapered brick chimney stack with a moulded entablature is positioned at the rear, adjacent to the leat. The turntable is complete and in working order, supported by a pair of plated and riveted H-irons.

Inside, original iron trusses are present, with those supporting the engine houses carried on iron box girders and iron column stanchions. This complex represents a virtually unaltered example of an industrial railway terminus with considerable architectural detail; it is one of only three planned groups of this type in the country.