Plate 4.
Plate 5. Building A, East elevation
Field Archaeology Specialists
For all building descriptions, reference should be made to Figures 3 to 6.
Building A is located to the north of the range, and was formerly an open yard (Fig.3: JPEG/DWF). It appears to have been roofed over in recent times (see description below). The building has most recently been used as a workshop for effecting car repairs.
The western elevation of Building A (Plate 4) comprises a wall of red bricks approximately 0.07m thick. The bonding is irregular, with random courses of headers and stretchers as well as some mixed courses. Externally, it includes a brick plinth c.1.5m in height, terminating in an offset of four brick courses to the north, and of two courses to the south. The wall would appear to date to the 1830s, as it is shown on the 1850 auction plan (Fig.2).
The uppermost two courses of the wall are modern additions, and appear to relate to the roofing of the yard to the east in recent times. The softwood beams which support this roof project through the wall near its top, the ends being flush with the external face. These beam ends are packed in with modern brick. Three modern doorways have been inserted into the wall, their surrounds being covered with a cement skim. The two larger doorways have RSJ lintels.
Positioned against the southern end of this elevation, at the junction with Building B, is a brick-built WC with a pantiled roof. It appears to date to the mid twentieth century.
Internally, the west elevation is battered to a height of c.2.3metres.
Externally, there is a straight joint towards the northwest corner, with the short stretch of walling to the west being slightly battered in its lower portion. Another straight joint is visible a little to the east, and the brickwork between the two represents the northern terminus of the west wall described above. In this terminus the end plates of two tie rods may be seen. The presence of these straight joints confirm that the north wall is of a different build from the west. The lower 0.95m of the elevation is built of bricks 0.05m thick, which may be reused Georgian material. The brickwork above is largely of 0.07m-thick bricks and set in English Garden Wall bond (five courses of stretchers to each course of headers) - a commonly used bond in the North of England in the mid/late nineteenth century.
Towards the east end of the elevation is a straight joint reaching halfway up the wall, and still further to the east, a staggered joint related to the construction of the short northeast corner elevation (Plate 5), which contains a large door probably used as a vehicular entrance. This door is surrounded by a cream-coloured brick, and this polychrome effect dates the wall to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
This elevation has five brick-blocked doors, each with shallow brick arched heads (see Plate 5). The brickwork along much of its length is of an irregular bond, but towards the south end is a straight joint. Two of the blockings mentioned above are located south of this joint, and the brickwork in this southern stretch of wall is laid in English Garden Wall bond.
The yard is effectively bounded to the south by the single-storey eastern extension of Building B. A gap in the southeast corner, between Building B and the east elevation of Building A, is closed by a double-leaf door dating to the mid/late twentieth century.
Internally, Building A is partitioned into two spaces by a stud frame covered by asbestos panels. The floor surface is of concrete. The roofing comprises softwood beams running east-west, carrying joists which, in turn, support a roof of corrugated asbestos panels, and is thus of quite modern construction.
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Plate 4. |
Plate 5. Building A, East elevation |
This building consists of three distinct parts (Figs.3: JPEG/DWF and 4: JPEG/DWF). The main body of the structure is of two storeys, with one large room at ground-floor level and two rooms above. To the east is a single-storey extension of two rooms, and to the south, a single-storey annex of one room. Although all of the ground-floor rooms are connected internally by doorways, the first floor can be accessed only via a wooden staircase running east-west up the external face of the southern annex.
This is the principal elevation of the building (Plate 6). It is of two storeys, and is constructed of 0.07m red brick laid in English Garden Wall bond. The ground floor includes a central doorway (now boarded-up externally) with a shallow arch at its head, consisting of smooth brick voussoirs. The windows to either side display the same arch detailing as well as stone sills, and viewed from the inside of the building, are of six lights each. To the south is the single-storey annex, whose west wall includes a doorway and an adjoining window. They have the same detailing as described above, and though boarded up, the window contains five lights.
At first-floor level are two boarded-up openings, both with wooden lintels rather than brick arches. Internally, the larger consists of a double door running from floor to ceiling. Each door consists of timber panelling in its lower portion and an upper glazed part of four lights. These doors clearly functioned as a loading bay. The smaller opening consists of two horizontally-sliding windows, each of six lights.
The east wall of the two storey block is bonded into the east wall of Building C. The lower part of the wall consists of brickwork laid in an irregular bond, consisting of courses of headers and stretchers in no particular pattern. However, approximately two-thirds of the way up the wall is a course of bricks laid on edge, above which the bricks have been laid in an English bond. The east wall of the east extension is laid in an irregular bond.
The north wall of the two storey block consists of a brick gable end surmounted by a squat chimney stack. The north elevation of the east extension includes a doorway and a window - these are both modern, although the openings may be much older. Externally, patches of render and numerous layers of paint obscure brick bonding and jointing along the north wall.
Building B contains six rooms. On the ground floor, rooms 1 and 2 are found in the eastern annex, room 3 occupies the ground floor of the two-storey block, and room 4 takes up the southern annex At first-floor level, the two-storey block is divided into rooms 5 and 6.
Room 1
This is the most easternly room. A boxed-in beam runs north-south across the ceiling. The inspection of the room was hampered by poor lighting conditions and large amounts of debris. The north wall includes a doorway and a window - these are both modern, although the openings may be much older. There is a straight joint towards the northern end of the east wall, as well as one towards the east end of the south wall. The north wall of the room consists of a modern partition and doorway through into room 2 .
Room 2
This is the west room of the eastern annex. There is a window in the north wall, the frame of which appears to be modern, but the opening and its surrounding elevation are obscured by render and paint. As in room 1, an examination of the floor surface was not possible due to the amount of debris present. A length of picture rail, probably an original feature, survives in the northwest corner of the room, and along the south wall. The west wall of the room (forming the east wall of the two-storey block) includes a doorway through to room 3. Part of the architrave for this door survives, and is probably an original feature dating to the late nineteenth century, when the eastern annex was constructed.
Room 3
This is the principal room of Building B, and undoubtedly served as an office for the sawmill. A moulded cornice runs around the entire room, but the ceiling appears to have remained unplastered, and is instead covered in tongue and groove boarding. A moulded ceiling beam runs east-west across the room. The north and south walls both had fireplaces, long since blocked. The west wall has been dealt with in some detail above, and from inside the building, the windows are of six lights each. The original door has been replaced with a modern one. The most interesting feature of the room is the lobby, consisting of two panelled wings which flank the door and project 1.15m into the room. Each wing retains a two-light window in its upper portion. Above the door and, in part, supported by these panels, is a cupboard with double-leaf doors. Since the cornice continues around this cupboard, it is probable that both cupboard and panelling are original features of the office, dating to the mid/late nineteenth century.
The floor surface consists of severely dry-rotted floorboards, with some joists exposed beneath.
Room 4
As in room 3, a moulded cornice encircles the entire room, and the ceiling consists of tongue and groove boarding. The window in the west wall is of five lights, and the adjacent door is a modern replacement. The south wall is covered in tongue and groove panelling, with a moulded dado rail and skirting board, all of which appears to be original. Unlike room 3, however, this room contains a parquet floor, which probably dates to the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries.
Roof of south annex
As has been stated above, the first floor is accessed only by means of a timber staircase against the external south elevation. This staircase runs from ground level up to the flat ‘roof’ covering the single-storey annex, which consists of floorboards carried on joists - the flooring material of the entire first floor. This roof is bounded on the west by a low brick parapet with timber coping, to the east by a wall which is described below (Building C), and to the north by the south gable of the first floor of Building B. This wall is comprised of brick laid in English Garden Wall bond. Centrally, there are two closely-spaced parallel wall scars, with a soot stain between, indicating the position of a former chimney flue. The east side of the gable has a large opening with a long timber lintel above, which has been partially blocked with brick. The remaining opening contains a six-panelled door covered externally with corrugated iron.
Room 5
This is the southernmost room on the first floor. The south wall contains an additional chimney flue, and a window lights the room from the west (as detailed above). The north wall comprises a partition described below.
Room 6
The northernmost room on the first floor includes a further chimney flue in its north wall. The west wall contains a loading bay, as detailed above. The east wall is punctuated by two internal buttresses which carry a timber wall plate for the roof. The south wall consists of a partition of vertical tongue and groove boarding set on a stud frame, the fair face facing into room 6. This partition is probably an insertion of the later nineteenth century.
The roof is supported by a king post truss which runs east to west, with raking struts and principal rafters supporting one purlin each. The truss is roughly adjacent to the tongue and grove partition dividing rooms 5 and 6, suggesting that the room might originally have been a single space.
The roof of Building B is covered in pantiles.
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Plate 6. Building B, West elevation |
Building C comprises a large timber-framed two-storey structure (Figs.3: JPEG/DWF and 4: JPEG/DWF), open along its west side except at its southwest corner, which is concealed by an asbestos-clad lean-to building. It is bounded on its east side by a brick wall, on its north side by Building B, and to the south by Building D. The first floor consists of an open deck of timber slats supported by timber posts. Other posts rise up independently of those that support the deck structure, to support the roof.
This is an open elevation, consisting of a timber-framed deck structure which will be described below, and surmounted by a roof carried on separate posts, the northernmost portion of which is a little higher than the southern (Plate 7). The only enclosed part of the elevation is at the southernmost end at ground level. Here, part of Building C is boxed in by a timber stud and panel wall, which, in its west face, contains a tongue and grooved sliding door.
Viewed externally, this elevation is visibly bonded into the east elevation of Building B (Plate 8) and must be contemporary with it. The lower half of the wall is laid in English bond (alternating courses of headers and stretchers), but towards the south end of the building, there is a vertical straight joint which runs from mid-height to eaves level. To both north and south of this joint, the brickwork is laid in an irregular bond, suggesting that the upper part of the wall is of a later build than the lower.
Internally, the wall is offset near the top, to carry the ends of the building’s roof trusses. There is also a recess (half a brick wide and a brick deep) running up the wall towards its north end. Its function is unclear.
This consists of 100mm x 25mm decking timbers laid at intervals of 40mm, all running north-south. The decking is supported by 100 x 50mm joists which run east-west. These, in turn, are supported at their midpoints by 135 x 50mm intermediate beams, and at their ends by the principal beams (220 x 70mm) of the structure. These beams are carried by three rows of paired timber posts, which run north-south in four bays.
These paired posts each consist of two 220 x 70mm members, spaced approximately 80mm apart. Where necessary, they are joined together by 300 x 220 x 80mm blocks of wood - the arrangement being held together by coach bolts. Slots in the top of each pair of posts carry the principal beams, which run both north-south and east-west. The posts are set on in-situ cast concrete pads, indicating that both the decking and its superstructure date to the twentieth century. The posts are braced at their bases by 200 x 80mm beams.
The decking appears to have been laid in an open-work fashion to allow the seasoning of timbers, a function aided further by the open nature of the building. The open west elevation would have permitted access to large timbers.
Immediately to the south of the deck structure is a stud and asbestos panel partition of later twentieth century origin.
The roof is carried by five east-west running king-post trusses, with tie-beams, principal rafters and raking struts. The northernmost truss is the largest within the building, and has wrought iron braces at the junctions between posts and principal rafters, and at the junction between the tie-beam and the eastern principal rafter.
The ridgepiece of the four trusses to the south is set slightly to the east of that of the larger northern truss, and the trusses themselves are of a smaller size. This means that there is a step in the roof - the roof to the south being set at a slightly lower height than that to the north. There is a substantial section of tongue and groove panelling which infills this change in level, and would have protected the interior of the building from the ingress of elements from the south. The principal rafters of all of the trusses carry a purlin which, in turn, carries the roof rafters. The east side of the roof is now largely open to the elements, but the west side still retains most of its pantiles.
The southern end of Building C has been partitioned off using asbestos sheeting in the north and west walls, and is now accessed only via a staircase against its eastern wall, which primarily serves (and is reached through) Building D.
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Plate 7. Building C, West elevation |
Plate 8. Building C, East elevation |
Building D is a two-storey structure running north-south (Figs.3: JPEG/DWF and 4: JPEG/DWF). It is bounded to the north by Building C and to the south by the revetment of the Foss Navigation. Its north, south and east sides, together with the first floor of its west side, are built of brick. Its original function was presumably to house the working of smaller pieces of timber. Most recently, it has been used to store automotive parts.
Externally, the lower part of the elevation is coursed in English bond with four buttresses (Plate 9). It is bonded with the east wall of Building C, but there is a vertical straight joint demarcating the two buildings in the upper portion of the wall. The upper part is coursed in an irregular bond, with groups of two to four stretchers responsible for tying inner and outer leaves of the wall together.
Between the two middle buttresses is an area of cement render containing a modern door and the remnants of a lighting fixture, indicating the former presence of a lean-to or prefabricated structure immediately to the east, now demolished.
The west elevation (Plate 10) consists largely of what was originally an open ground floor, now infilled with panelling, surmounted by a brick-built first floor containing windows and a loading bay door.
At ground-floor level, the northern part of the elevation is covered by a lean-to structure of twentieth century origin, consisting of timber studding with either timber board or asbestos sheeting mounted upon it. The lean-to has a transparent corrugated roof. From within the lean-to may be seen the original configuration of this elevation - open except for a brick supporting pier and a cast iron column. To the south of the lean-to is a large double-leaf wooden door which probably dates to the twentieth century. Positioned in front is a timber staircase with handrail, which runs up to a timber platform at first-floor level, the platform being adjacent to the loading bay doors. Both staircase and platform probably date to the twentieth century. To the south of the ground-floor doors is a twentieth century dust extractor unit which projects from the elevation. It consists of corrugated asbestos sheeting in its lower portion and a mild steel cowling in its upper part. The southernmost portion of the ground-floor elevation contains a brick pier which may be part of the original build, and modern timber panelling containing panes of safety glass in its upper portion.
The northernmost feature of the first floor is a brick-blocked door which has a six-pane window inserted in its upper part. At the base of the brick blocking may be seen the severed ends of several joists which must have projected beyond the west wall. They probably supported an external platform which, in turn, may have been linked to a timber staircase. Externally, the two northernmost windows have segmental brick heads, whereas the three southernmost ones are surmounted by a continuous timber lintel. Although these southern windows are larger and have had a more modern fenestration inserted, they appear, like the northern windows, to be contemporary with the construction of the first floor in the mid/late nineteenth century. The timber loading bay doors in the middle of the first-floor elevation are probably modern, but the opening appears contemporary and has a segmental brick arch.
Close inspection of this elevation (Plate 11) was hampered by its position against the revetment of the Foss Navigation. The ground-floor part of the elevation includes three buttresses, one at each corner of the building, and the third at the centre of the elevation. There are two windows, one to either side of the central buttress, and these may be later insertions, as they are not indicated on the 1850 auction plan (Fig.2). At first-floor level there is one window placed in the eastern side of the elevation. This window is unusual, since the inner face of the wall shows no sign of any window, but externally the fenestration is still visible and glazing bars may be discerned.
The pantiled roof of Building D terminates in a hipped, rather than a gabled, form.
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Plate 9. Building D, East elevation |
Plate 10. Building D, West elevation |
Plate 11. Building D, South gable elevation |
This consists of seven bays marked by timber beams running east-west. The east wall, which has been described above, has no windows - presumably because there was housing immediately to the east of the sawmill up until the 1930s. The west side is either largely open, or is covered by a long porch of timber stud panelling with glazing and asbestos sheeting (Plate 12). There are, however, two brick piers, their corners finished in bullnose brick, and two cast iron columns which appear to date from the mid nineteenth century or perhaps earlier.
The south wall is built upon a plinth of sandstone masonry, which is probably part of the coping of the revetment wall for the Foss Navigation. There are also two windows, which flank a centrally placed internal buttress. Immediately beneath the west window is a hole of unknown function, approximately 0.3 x 0.5m.
The north wall is pierced by two doorways leading into Building C, which may be original. There are two ramps leading down from the southern part of Building C, to the concrete floor of Building D, which is at a lower level.
Of the six timber beams which transect the building, the second and third beams from the south are badly burnt, the worst of the charring being apparent at the western ends. The cast iron column supporting the northernmost of these charred beams has timber packing between its head and the underside of the beam.
This floor (Plate 13) is also of seven bays, and is reached via a staircase running up from the southeast corner of Building C, the staircase being flush with the east wall (see above). It might also be reached via an external timber staircase on the west side of the building, which runs up to a central double-leaf loading bay door.
As on the ground floor, there are no windows in the east wall. There are, however, six internal buttresses, whose tops carry the eastern ends of king post trusses. The south wall includes a centrally-placed internal buttress, which carries the end of a beam which runs north to join with the tie-beam of the southernmost roof truss.
In the northernmost part of the west wall is a former doorway framed by a brick arch. The lower part of the door is now blocked with brick, and the upper part includes an inserted six-light window. The western ends of all of the roof trusses are carried on internal buttresses, save the northernmost truss. There are five windows in this face, and all of the openings appear to be original, though much of the fenestration detail appears to be of twentieth century origin.
The flooring consists of boards running east-west, and laid flush rather than tongue and grooved. Just to the east of the centrally placed loading bay is a small trap door, whose function remains unclear since timbers or machinery of any size could not have been hoisted through it.
The roof is of pantile and there are skylights along its eastern side.
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Plate 12. Building D, Ground-floor porch, facing south |
Plate 13. Building D, First-floor, facing south |
