Former Weedon Barracks, Inner West Of Series Of 4 Blast Houses In Magazine Enclosure

This is a blast house, built between 1807 and 1811, located within the magazine enclosure of the former Weedon Barracks. It is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, featuring gauged brick arches and dentilled eaves to the side walls. Stone copings are present on the kneelers of the slate roof.

The building's plan is rectangular, running north-south. Originally, the central blast house was filled with earth and flanked by small offices and Shifting Rooms, designed for changing into specialist clothing required for working in the magazines. The northern sections of these flanking rooms have been demolished, leaving only the southern sections.

The south-facing gables have segmental arches over the central doorway and flanking windows; originally, there was a six-panel door and a six/six-pane sash window.

The interior of the blast house retains a pegged king post roof and was originally filled with earth. The interiors of the offices and Shifting Rooms originally featured boarded or panelled walls.

This structure forms part of a unique military-industrial complex with a defensible transport system and surrounding walls. While the magazines are smaller than the late 18th century example at Priddy’s Hard near Portsmouth, as a group they were unmatched until the magazines built at Bull Point, Plymouth, in the 1850s. Catenary arches, first used at Tipnor in the 1790s and then at Colonel D’Arcy’s magazine at Upnor, were incorporated here. The use of traverses – blast walls of earth, sometimes faced in brick – is particularly innovative and became a characteristic feature of magazine complexes. These traverses also uniquely adopted an architectural form. Detailed information about the wider site can be found in the description of Storehouse No 2.