Former Weedon Barracks, West Magazine Of Series Of Four Magazines In Magazine Enclosure

The Former Weedon Barracks, specifically the West Magazine, is part of a series of four magazines built between 1807 and 1811 within the Magazine Enclosure at Weedon Bec. The structure is made of Flemish bond brick set on a rendered plinth with a chamfered sandstone top course and features dentilled eaves on the side elevations. It has stone-coped gables and a rectangular plan, consisting of two vaulted chambers. The north and south elevations are double-gabled, with segmental arches made of gauged brick forming the doorways at the center of each side. The doors and windows are from the late 20th century, replacing the original ventilators. The side elevations include perforated wrought-iron plates for the ventilators, which are baffled internally. Inside, there are catenary arches in each chamber, along with some arched access doorways between them.

This building is part of a unique planned military-industrial complex that includes its own defensible transport system and surrounding walls. Although the individual magazines are smaller than the late 18th-century example at Priddy's Hard near Portsmouth, they are significant as a group and were unmatched until the construction of traversed magazines at Bull Point, Plymouth, in the 1850s. The catenary arches were first utilized at Tipnor in the 1790s and later at Colonel D'Arcy's magazine at Upnor. The innovative use of traverses in the design, along with the blast walls of earth (sometimes faced in brick), has become a characteristic feature of magazine complexes, giving this group a unique architectural form. For more details about the site, refer to the description of Storehouse No 2.