Aircraft Hangar, Single GS Type (16U)

An aircraft hangar (General Service Shed), built in c.1917.

MATERIALS: constructed of red and brown brick with softwood roof trusses, and metal-framed windows with concrete lintels. The roof is corrugated iron.

PLAN: A single-span rectangular hangar on an approximate east/ west orientation, with attached single-storey workshops to each side.

EXTERIOR: The west end is largely sealed in brick and the east end covered with timber boarding, and both have inserted doorways. Each end elevation has an eaves cornice with a segmental gable above. To the side of each corner are tall brick piers that formerly supported the sliding hangar doors. The flank walls have wide upper windows, each with 12 panes, alternating with 15 raking buttresses, with cement render to each outfacing side. Single-storey, brick workshop annexes with pitched roofs and casements are fixed to the south-east flank (3 bays) and north-west flank (7 bays). The south-east casements are aluminium.

INTERIOR: 15 softwood Belfast trusses span the interior, supporting the curved roof, and creating 17 bays. Each truss is formed of a bow-curved upper chord with a tie-beam, and close-mesh, lattice bars in a criss-cross pattern between the two members. There is horizontal timber bracing between the trusses, of small scantling. The tie-beams and bow chords are constructed of sections of half-lapped timbers bolted to each other either side of the lattice bars. The ends of the bow are anchored to the tie-beam with gusset boards and knee braces, and the bearing ends are secured to wall plates and angled bracing struts. The plates are carried on the brick outer walls. The struts are carried on three-coursed brick corbels. There is vertical X-bracing between bays, and longitudinal horizontal bracing fixed to the tie-beams with brackets. There is further horizontal bracing in the end bays. Late-C20 structures have been inserted to each end, within the envelope of the hangar, and are not of special interest. Door openings lead into the workshop annexes to each side.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the late-C20 internal fittings and partitioning are not of special architectural or historic interest and are excluded from the listing.