Description

DARLINGTON

907/2/334 STATION ROAD
06-SEP-77 (East side)
GOODS SHED EAST SOUTH EAST OF NORTH RO
AD STATION

GV II*
Goods shed, 1833 by Thomas Storey for the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company; altered 1839-40 by John Harris. Constructed of coursed square sandstone rubble with freestone dressings under welsh slate roofs.

PLAN: single storey double pile with central valley and clock tower. Goods arrived by railway on tracks which entered the building transversely and passed through the building across its width.

EXTERIOR: SOUTH ELEVATION: this is the south elevation of the original 1833 building. 8-bays with eight round-headed openings of two patterns depending on function; taller with narrow key stones, probably for vehicles and lower with slightly broader key stones probably held windows. Present windows with small panes and iron glazing. Divided by finely tooled pilasters forming reveals to the vehicle openings and rock-faced where they flank windows. Square ashlar clock tower rises through central valley with angle pilasters, Doric entablatures; original faces on all sides of tower now missing but surrounding raised voussoirs remain. NORTH ELEVATION: this is the north elevation of the 1839-40 extension. Replicated the south elevation with similar but not identical detailing, but now much altered. 8-bays with three shoulder-arched openings surviving with narrow and broad key blocks and similar margined and rock-face pilasters. Two windows with small panes and iron glazing. Other openings enlarged with timber lintels later and square-headed with some large doors for machinery.

INTERIOR: retains part of the north wall of the original building of 1833 in the eastern half; this contains one high vehicle arch identical to its partner on the south elevation. Three cast iron columns on stepped stone footings have replaced the original wall in the western half. The building is divided by a north-south wall, which appears to be original to the enlarged building of 1839-40. The base of the clock tower is visible in the eastern half of the building with an internal wooden doorway giving access to the clock; it is supported by massive timbers in the western part of the building. Moderately low pitched double span hipped roofs are of bolted king posts and that in the western half of the building is obscured by a boarded ceiling.

Two brick buildings attached to the east end of the north elevation and to the western gable in the 1950's and 60's, are not of special interest.

HISTORY: The building is situated at the eastern side of the site known since the 1830's as North Road and developed by the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company between 1831 and 1853. This became the location for most of the Stockton and Darlington railways subsequent development in Darlington and all of the key buildings on this site are therefore from the first generation of the Railway Age. The goods shed was the first building to be erected on the site, designed by the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company's chief engineer Thomas Storey as the main point of goods handling for the Stockton & Darlington Railway and originally known as the "merchandise Station"; documentary evidence shows that contracts were let in November 1832 and the building was completed in 1833. In 1839-40, it was doubled in size by the addition of a range to the north designed by John Harris who had taken over as Stockton & Darlington Railway Company's chief engineer in 1836. Harris also constructed the clock tower, which had been planned at Darlington since 1838. In 1857 the goods shed ceased to be the main point of goods handling for the Stockton & Darlington Railway and between 1870 and 1898, it was converted into a fire station. In 1951, the fire station was converted into a depot for the maintenance of railway vehicles.

SOURCES: unpublished summary of the site Conservation Plan (Department of Archaeology, University of York) by Robert Clarke, Museum Manager.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE
This 1833 goods shed was designed by Thomas Storey and John Harris for the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company and it falls into the important first phase of development of the railway system between 1825 and 1841. It is of special interest because of its early date, its importance in the pioneering development of early goods station design and its rarity as a surviving example. It also possesses clear group value as a component of the Stockton & Darlington railway terminal complex, the world's first modern railway.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17544061

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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