Summary

Timber-drying bottle kiln, built sometime between 1908 and 1929 by J and J Colman Ltd of Norwich.

Description

Timber-drying bottle kiln, built sometime between 1908 and 1929 by J and J Colman Ltd of Norwich.

MATRERIALS: of red brick with dressings of blue engineering brick.

PLAN: it is circular-on-plan with a short porchway to the firing/loading doorway on the north-east side.

EXTERIOR: the kiln has a bottle-shaped profile and the porchway has a semi-circular tunnel-vaulted ceiling and a metal top-hung sliding door. Around the perimeter there are four circular and three rectangular ventilation holes.

INTERIOR: the kiln has a cavity-wall construction for ventilation. The inner skin rises to a height of 2.95m and is constructed in bricks made by EJ and JP Pearson Ltd of Stourbridge.

History

The industrial origins of the Deal Ground, Norwich, dates from the second half of the C19 when it was developed as a timber yard by J J and Colman Ltd; Colman's world renowned condiment-milling business occupied a large site known as Carrow World immediately to the west, on the west side of the main Norwich to London railway line. The name of the site is derived from the fact that crates and barrels for Colman's products were made in the yard from 'deal' or softwood imported from the Baltic to Yarmouth and then brought by wherry up the River Yare. In the early C20, as the demand for timber increased, a kiln was erected on the site to dry freshly-sawn green wood so that it could be used immediately. An analysis of Ordnance Survey 25" maps of the site, coupled with the fact that the inner skin of the kiln was constructed in firebricks made by EJ and JP Pearson Ltd of Stourbridge, which was active in the production of these products until 1916, suggests that the kiln was built sometime between 1908 and 1916. By 1938, a second kiln had been added to the site, it being demolished sometime between 1958 and 1968. The timber yard closed in 1995 when Colman's merged with Unilever.

Reasons for Listing

The bottle kiln at the Deal Ground, Norwich, built sometime between 1908 and 1929 for J & J Colman Ltd, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is little altered and still illustrates the industrial process for which it was built;

* as a rare example of the building type nationally, and the only known example in Norfolk.

Historic interest:

* for its association with Colman's of Norwich, the world-renowned condiment-milling manufacturer.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26558710

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings