Former Shirwell Skittle Alley

The Former Shirwell Skittle Alley is a building that was originally a railway carriage built in 1897 for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Train. It was moved to its current location and served as a skittle alley from 1933 to 2014.

The structure is made of green painted timber coachwork on metal and timber frames, featuring rounded beads and pattresses over the panel joints. It is covered on three sides and above by corrugated-metal sheets. The carriage is a long rectangular shape aligned east to west and is entered through the former rear connecting door. It measures 48 feet in wheelbase and is a GWR corridor bogie carriage, though it currently stands without bogies. The carriage is positioned alongside a hedgerow in the north-west corner of a field, next to the highway.

On the exterior, the former railway carriage is shielded on the south, east, and west sides by free-standing corrugated-iron sheets that extend over the roof. Some of the metal sheeting and guttering show signs of weathering and rot. The original timber window frames, both glazed and blind, as well as doors and louvered ventilators with radius corners, remain at the ends, along the north side, and part of the south side. The carriage is supported by concrete plinths, with at least one of these being broken.

Inside, the carriage has lost all internal divisions, seats, and water closets. A timber skittle alley has been installed over the floor, and the layout of the cabin can still be identified by the contrasting alignment of the diagonal flooring on either side of the alley. Internally, the doors are labeled 8283 A, B, C, and D. Timber panelling is still present, along with adjustable ventilation shutters. The frames at the ceiling level create white painted coffers with decorative borders.