Description

RODBOURNE ROAD
SU 18 SW SWINDON
BREL: Swindon Works
1/152 Chain Test House
18.5.84
GV II*

Metal Testing House. 1873. Long single storey brick structure
built on to an older building and thus having only one external
wall. Wrought iron roof construction sash windows. The testing
room at the south end is lit from above, the chain tester is in the
floor of the corridor to the north. The testing room has largely
original fittings and a very Victorian atmosphere. The Ransome's
chain tester of 1874 has a hydraulic pull of 130 tons and is
probably the oldest such working machine in the country. There are
also a later tensile tester and an Izod's Patent tester by
Avery's. A fine collection of Victorian testing machinery in
original setting and in working order, the whole now extremely
rare. Part of the great expansion of the works in the 1870's and
one of an important group of industrial buildings at the GWR works.

Listing NGR: SU1432485014

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17549104

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)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings