Carrow Works blocks 7, 7A, 8A and 8 including metal canopy attached to block 7, Thorpe Hamlet, Norfolk

Summary

A composite group of four multi-storey factory buildings built between 1870 and 1889 for J and J Colman Ltd of Norwich. Blocks 7 and 7A were constructed around 1870 and rebuilt following a fire in 1881, block 8 was erected around 1881 and block 8A was built between 1884 and 1889, possibly incorporating earlier fabric. All have later C19 and C20 alterations, including the addition of a generator house in the narrow courtyard between blocks 8 and 8A in 1898.

Description

MATERIALS: of Somerleyton red brick in Flemish and mixed bonds with dressings of yellow brick, including quoins, string courses, window and door surrounds, and some insets of white vitrified brick. Blocks 7, 7A and 8A all have slate roofs while the block 8 has a C20 corrugated metal sheet roof.

PLAN: the four buildings are all rectangular-on-plan with their overall composition creating an F-shaped footprint.

EXTERIOR: although the completion dates span some thirty years, with the earliest building dated 1870, the methods of construction and materials were largely unchanged, lending the group a great degree of architectural coherence. All four buildings are of four storeys with raised ground floors above deep basements and attics. Walls are of load-bearing brick pier construction with blocks 7A, 8A and the north and east sides of block 8 having round-headed recessed panels rising to second floor level, thereby creating a blind arcade effect. Block 7 and the south side of block 8 have recessed panels rising their full height. Blocks 7, 7A and 8 all have an overhanging bracketed eaves while the eaves to block 8A was replaced with one of cyma reversa profile in the early C20. Door and window openings are mainly segmental arched while the windows are timber-framed sashes with square paned-glazing. In around 2014, as a means of protection, a large number of windows on the north and west sides of blocks 7 and 8 were covered with foamex boards illustrated with a digital print of a sash window.

The following description begins with block 7 on the west side of the complex, or the long vertical bar of the F, and thereafter continues in a clockwise direction. The west-facing principal elevation of block 7 is 14 bays long with a round-headed wagon entrance (now boarded) spanning its fifth and sixth bays. Directly above the arch is date stone inscribed 1870. Window openings flanking the arch are blind as are those to the fourteenth bay; the exception being a first-floor sash. A late-C19 metal canopy of segmental section spans bays nine to thirteen on the ground floor. All other bays contain timber sashes.

Adjoining the left-hand end of block 7 is the west gable end of block 7A. Of four bays, this has a triangular-shaped pediment with a moulded stone kneeler to the right-hand side (that to the left-hand side rebuilt in brick in the C20), raised string and eaves courses of alternating red and yellow brick, diamond-shaped diapering in yellow brick and a round-headed window. On the ground floor, the second and fourth bay contain round-headed doorways while the full height of the left-hand end bay (except the first floor) has blind window openings. All other bays contain timber sashes covered with early-C21 foamex boards. A datestone to the second bay gives the year of construction as 1881.

The five-storey north elevation fronting the River Wensum is harmonious in its architectural treatment with block 7A being of 9 bays and block 8 of 6 bays, the outer bays being blind, with the internal subdivision between the two buildings marked by a corbelled stone kneeler breaking the eaves. The original overhanging eaves to block 8 was rebuilt in brick with a straight profile following bomb damage in the Second World War. From left to right, the fourth bay of block 8 has a weatherboarded lucarne rising to the third floor (historic photographs show that it originally rose to the attic) while the sixth bay of block 7A has a round-headed doorway to the basement (now boarded). Block 7A also has four segmental-headed dormers to the attic. All other bays contain timber sashes covered with early-C21 foamex boards.

On the east side of the complex, the gable end of block 8 has a triangular-shaped pediment with an identical treatment to that described above for its west gable end; the exception being a blind, round-headed opening at its centre. It has a moulded stone kneeler at its right-hand side while that to the left-hand side was rebuilt in brick in the C20. All the window openings to the right-hand end bay are blind while the centre bay has a round-headed doorway to the ground floor and infilled window openings to the first and third floors. The second floor has an enlarged window opening with a C20 metal door. The left-hand end bay has a loading door with a metal roller shutter to the ground floor and original timber sashes above.

To the left, the east-facing gable end of block 8A also has a triangular-shaped pediment with an identical treatment to that described above for block 8; the exception being that it has three round-headed windows to the attic. The ground-floor has sliding double doors to the centre bay above which is a C20 footbridge (not of special interest) spanning eastwards to block 209. All other openings contain timber sashes.

Standing in the courtyard between blocks 8 and 8A is the single-storey gable end of a former generator house; as its glass and steel roof removed in the early C21 it now largely functions as a screen wall. Containing double doors beneath a concrete lintel, it rises to a triangular-shaped pediment with a date stone giving the date of construction as 1898.

The south-facing elevation of block 8A is of nine bays of which the west most bay is narrower and rises to a lift tower with a high brick parapet added in around 1939. All openings contain timber sashes except for a round-headed doorway with radial fanlight at the right-hand end of the ground floor. The attic has four segmental-arched dormers. At the left-hand side of block 8A there is a four-storey recessed range, of which the upper three are of white vitrified brick, with a timber sash on each floor.

The east return of block 7 is of eight bays with the ghost of a former building that abutted this range evident across the four left-hand end bays rising up to second-floor level. All the window openings which were spanned by this building are largely infilled with brick or enlarged to create doorways to proivide an internal connection with the now demolished range. The third and fourth bays rise above the eaves line to a lift tower with a blind window opening, a moulded cornice and stone-coped parapet. Most of the other openings contain timber sashes, some covered with early-C21 foamex boards.

The south face of block 7 is of three bays with the ground floor having a round-headed doorway with a radial fanlight to the right-hand side and a round-headed loading door to the left-hand side. On the first floor, the right-hand end bay has an altered window opening with a C20 metal-framed casement beneath a round-headed relieving arch. An altered window opening to the centre of the second floor has a C20 taking-in door with a concrete lintel.

INTERIOR: all four buildings have a transverse beam and joisted timber floor construction. Blocks 7, 7A and 8A comprise two rows of columns supporting large timber beams across the width of each floor, creating three aisles, while block 8 has three rows of columns across with the width of each floor, creating four aisles. The columns to the basement and ground floor of blocks 7, 7A and 8 along with the first floor of block 8 are of cast iron and cylindrical in cross section. On the first, second and third floor of blocks 7 and 7A along with the second and third floors of block 8, the columns are timber and square in section, some with chamfered run-out stops.
Secondary strengthening in the form of H-section steel beams and columns were inserted in the basements and ground floors of blocks 7 and 8 along with the first floor of block 7 and the second floor of block 8 in the C20. Block 8A differs slightly in that all the columns are of cast-iron cruciform section, possibly re-used from an earlier building that stood on the site. All buildings have queen post roof trusses with those to blocks 7, 7A and 8A being of limewashed timber while that to block 8 is a C20 steel replacement after the original was destroyed by bomb damage in the Second World War. Stairwells and lift shafts are grouped together in the south-east corner of block 7, the south-west corner of block 7A and the north-west and south-west corners of block 8A. The lifts have sliding track doors to each floor while the staircases are of concrete with metal treads and handrails.

History

The historical development of the Carrow Works site in Norwich, until 2020 the former home of Colman’s, one of the world’s oldest condiment milling producers, dates back to 1146 when King Stephen granted land in Carhowe (Carrow) to the nuns of the Church of St Mary and St John for the founding of a Benedictine priory (scheduled and listed at Grade I). The nunnery was a substantial monastic complex with a substantial church, chapter house, dorter, cloister and several ancillary buildings. At some time between 1503 and 1535 the west range was substantially reworked when the penultimate prioress, Isobell Wygun, built a new house for herself. After the Dissolution most of the priory fell into ruin, the exception being the prioress’s house which was given by Henry VIII to Sir John Shelton (an uncle-in-law to Anne of Boleyn) in 1538, who maintained it as a residence. In later years, during which the house came to be known as Carrow Abbey, the priory estate passed through various hands, being acquired by Philip Martineau (died 1829), an eminent Norwich surgeon, in 1811.

In 1850, land immediately to the north of the Carrow Abbey estate was purchased by the successful mustard, flour and starch milling business of J and J Colman Ltd from the Norfolk Railway Company. The Colman’s business had begun in 1804 when Jeremiah Colman (1777-1851) milled flour and mustard at a smock mill outside Magdalen Gate. In 1814, the business moved to a larger mill at Stoke Holy Cross, four miles south of Norwich, with Jeremiah taking his nephew James Colman (1802-1854) into partnership in 1823, the firm becoming J and J Colman Ltd. James’s eldest son, Jeremiah James (1830-1898), joined the partnership in 1851, and went on to play a significant role in the expansion of the business at Carrow. One of the first buildings erected at the new site was a mustard mill in 1854-1856 (now demolished), soon followed by flour and starch mills along with granaries, warehouses and workshops. A counting house (listed Grade II) was completed in 1857 to accommodate the firm’s administrative staff. Along with developing the factory complex, JJ Colman also built a family home on the site, Carrow House (listed Grade II), which was finished in 1861. The transfer of business from Stoke Mill was completed the following year.

Colman’s rapid development of the Carrow site is illustrated in AD Bayne’s ‘Comprehensive History of Norwich’ (1869), in which a visit to the factory in 1868, describes mills for mustard, flour and paper, factories for starch and laundry blue and workshops for engineers, carpenters, coopers and tin-box making. An undated plan held in Norfolk County Record Office, probably drawn in the 1870s, shows these buildings occupying two plots, divided by Carrow Hill, at the north-west corner of the current factory site. On the north-west side of Carrow Hill, which was occupied by a disused paper mill (destroyed by fire in 1881) when the Colman’s purchased the site, a timber yard is also depicted, while the larger site to the south-west is shown to contain mills, factories, warehouses and workshops along with a second timber yard. Most of the principal buildings were connected by a network of railway tracks to the Great Eastern Railway’s (GER) mainline at Trowse to the east.

During the late C19 J and J Colman Ltd systematically acquired adjoining parcels of land on which to expand, including the purchase of the Carrow estate from the Martineau family in 1878. The subsequent expansion of the business is depicted on early Ordnance Survey maps, with the first edition 25-inch map of 1888 showing the infilling of the south-west timber yard with new factory buildings. While most of the early factory buildings are depicted as occupying the same footprint as shown on the earlier plan, it is known that several were rebuilt after a serious fire in 1881. The second edition map of 1914 shows the two mustard seed driers and an associated storehouse that were built on former priory land in 1890. By this time a new timber yard, subsequently known as the Deal Ground on account of it being where crates and barrels were built from ‘deal’ (softwood) imported from the Baltic, had been laid out on land to the east of the GER mainline. A kiln (Grade II) was erected at the yard in the early C20 to dry green timber. On the domestic side of the site, Carrow Abbey was remodelled and extended between 1899 and 1909 by Norwich architect Edward Boardman for James and Laura Stuart (the eldest daughter of JJ Colman). Boardman also designed a range of ancillary buildings within the immediate vicinity of Carrow Abbey, including a lodge, garage and gardener’s cottage in 1880-81 and a dwelling known as Stable Cottage in around 1909. In 1922, Carrow House was converted into office accommodation.

By 1926, the premises had expanded to cover some 50 acres and had a frontage of nearly a mile along the River Wensum. Most of the mills had also been electrified by this date, the power being supplied by the company's own steam-powered generating station. While mustard, flour, starch and laundry blue were still the main products produced at Carrow, Colman’s had started producing "Patent" barley, "Patent" groats and "Waverley" oats in 1925 following the acquisition of rival mustard maker and cereal producer Keen Robinson in 1903. Colman’s diversified into drink production in 1935 when, for the Wimbledon lawn tennis championship, lemon barley water was created under the Keen Robinson name. Three years later, in 1938, Colman’s merged with Reckitt and Sons Ltd, a firm producing household products such as polish and bleach, to form Reckitt and Colman Ltd.

During the 1950s, after several buildings were destroyed by German air raids, Colman’s instigated a major reorganisation of the Carrow Works site. Structures erected during this phase included the culinary unit (1950-1955), mustard seed silos (1953), mint plan (1955), Jif plant (1955) and dry foods unit (1955-1957). A five-storey office block was also added to the north end of Carrow House (1959). In the following decade a large dining hall was erected over the buried remains of the priory church nave, at the north of Carrow Abbey, and a Technical Centre was built on former priory land between Carrow Abbey and Carrow House. One of the most significant developments at the site occurred in mid-1980s when a ready drinks unit comprising a soft drinks manufacturing and packaging building, which was integrated with a raw materials warehouse and linked via a 150m-long conveyor tunnel to a palletised reception and loading building with access to a finished goods warehouse, was constructed.

In 1995, the mustard and condiment side of Reckitt and Colman Ltd was sold to Unilever, while Robinson’s was acquired by Britvic. In 2017, Britvic announced it would close its Carrow Works factory in 2019, prompting Unilever to review its own future on the site, which led to a decision to cease production in 2020.

Blocks 7, 7A, 8 and 8A, a composite group of four multi-storey factory buildings, were erected between 1870 and 1889 on the site of earlier factory buildings. Block 7 was built around 1870, probably as a rag store, then rebuilt after a fire in 1881, although the extent of rebuilding is not clear. Block 7A and block 8 (sometimes referred to as block 80 on plans of the Carrow Works site) were built as tinmans shops around 1881, replacing a smithy and water-powered engineers shop of 1856, while block 8A was built between 1884 and 1888. In 1898, a generator house was inserted in the narrow courtyard between blocks 8 and 8A. The current configuration of the complex is depicted on an 1889 plan of Carrow Works with a now demolished building (then known as block 8 with the current block 8 known as block 80) attached to the south-east corner of block 7. The plan also shows a railway line entering the west side of block 7 and heading eastwards through the full length of block 8A. The roof of block 8 was replaced after being damaged during the Second World War. Modern additions of corrugated metal bridges and chutes were added during the C20 to provide connections between the buildings over the courtyard on a number of levels and between block 7 and block 5 to the west and from block 8A to block 209 to the east. All four blocks are believed to have closed in 1990s. In the early-C20 the glass and steel roof structure covering the generator house was removed. As all four buildings were of non-fireproof construction this suggests that they were used for manual processes such as warehousing, packing and finishing. An internal inspection of block 8A shows that it is contains cruciform cast-iron columns, an early method of construction that was primarily used during the late C18 and early C19. As cruciform columns were supplanted by cylindrical columns during the C19, this tentatively suggests that the columns in block 8A may be re-used from an earlier building that stood on the site.

Reasons for Listing

Blocks 7, 7A, 8 and 8A, including the metal canopy attached to block 7, a composite group of four multi-storey factory buildings built between 1870 and 1889 for J and J Colman Ltd of Norwich, all with later alterations, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* they have a well-executed external aesthetic with their imposing red-brick walls, polychrome brickwork, regimented sash windows and blind-arcading making a strong architectural statement;
* the height, massing and riverside location of the group, when combined with their distinctive architectural character, has created a distinctive and powerful industrial landscape which symbolises Colman’s occupation of the site for some 150 years;
* they are relatively little altered externally, and retain distinctive features relating to their original use including timber-framed sashes and taking-in doors along with a wagon entrance and metal canopy to block 7 and a lucarne to block 8;
* despite the introduction of secondary strengthening in the C20, the original heavy, timber floors, with transverse beams, joists and timber and cast-iron columns survive largely intact, along with the original queen-post roof trusses to all but block 8;

Historic interest:

* for representing the importance of Colman's condiment-milling industry in Norwich, and confirming on a national and international scale, Norwich’s high status in this business.

Group value:

* with several other buildings associated with Colman's development of Carrow Works in the late C19, including Carrow House, block 60 and block 92, all listed at Grade II, and Carrow Priory (scheduled) and Carrow Abbey (Grade I), a Benedictine nunnery which occupied the site from 1146 to 1538.

External Links

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