Former Torpedo Works

The former Torpedo Works, constructed between 1910 and 1912, comprises two main factory buildings with later additions and alterations, originally built for the Royal Navy. The buildings are set at a slight angle to each other. They are constructed of coursed, bull-faced red sandstone and artificial stone, with ashlar dressings and some brickwork. Ashlar copes define the rooflines, along with long and short ashlar quoins and window margins. The windows are predominantly round-arched, transomed, and mullioned, accentuated by prominent keystones over the arches.

The western building is a long, rectangular range composed of eleven adjoining three-bay gabled sections, running east to west. The two gables at the southern end are likely later additions, being broader and featuring slightly different window margins. Originally, the gables on the east elevation each had a wide central entrance with a large arched tripartite fanlight above, flanked by transomed, mullioned round-arched windows, and a long tripartite window in the gablehead. Many of these windows have been bricked up. The western (rear) gables generally feature three round-arched windows and a tripartite window in the gablehead; two have central projecting stacks, and three are completely blank. The north and south elevations each have six bays, all with round-arched windows.

The eastern building has an irregular plan, composed of four distinct sections. A large range to the northwest consists of thirteen single-bay, gabled sheds with asymmetrical gables to the east and west elevations. The west elevation is of snecked red sandstone, while the north and east are of red brick with sandstone ashlar dressings. The west elevation has large round-arched windows, many of which have been bricked up, with a discontinuous cill course. The north elevation is irregularly fenestrated with seven bays, including two large round-arched openings featuring scroll-ended hoodmoulds. Strip rooflights are present on the north-facing roofs. A large, gabled shed oriented north to south adjoins the eastern elevation of the northwest range. Adjacent to this is another gabled shed running east to west, constructed of coursed false stone; it has a large arched entrance on the west side and a similar entrance and three windows on the south. A smaller, M-gabled section of red sandstone, running east to west, projects from the south elevation of the previous section and forms the front (road) elevation of the building, with five arched windows. It has irregular fenestration to its gables.

The roofs are predominantly corrugated iron or asbestos, supported by steel trusses.

Random rubble boundary walls, heightened with false stone, enclose the site, with corniced, bull-faced red sandstone gate piers marking the road frontage.