Description

863/0/10005
11-AUG-03

GLASTONBURY
BECKERY OLD ROAD
Beckery
Former Baily's tannery and leather working factory on west and east sides of Beckery Old Road

II

Tannery, sheepskin factory, warehouses and offices. Established 1867 and largely completed by 1896 [building plans]. Dressed lias stone front, red brick at rear of west ranges. Double-Roman tile and slate roofs with hipped and gabled ends.
PLAN: Long triangular site on west side of road, tapered at south end. First phase of building comprised an office to north at right-angles to road and a long 7-bay tanning and manufacturing range to south and range of drying sheds and a yard at rear. Before 1884 the office was extended to north forming L-shaped plan block and the tanning and manufacturing range was extended six bays to the south with a range of drying sheds and a yard at the rear. The works were extended in 1890 and 1896 when a glove factory, boiler house and drying stoves were built on east side of road; first phase comprised glove factory and boiler house with a chimney behind and drying stoves; a detached 3-storey drying stove was built to south in 1896; the north range was extended to south and in the 1960s the 1-bay gap between was filled in to form one long range [1960s infilling is not included].
EXTERIOR: WEST SIDE OF ROAD: 3 storeys. Office on right [N] 1:2 bays, margin-pane sashes with cambered arches and later glazed porch in angle and canted stone bay window on north gable end; including adjoining section of rusticated stone garden area wall and two small gate-piers in front of office. Adjoining south 1:5:1 bay tanning and manufacturing range, windows with glazing bars with cambered rustic arches and carriageway to right with similar arch. To left [S] 6-bay extension with twin gables on right, similar window openings, but with cast-iron window frames; first floor loading door on south gable end. Red brick rear wall, a yard behind north range, around which there are a range of 3-storey drying sheds with timber louvered bays between slim brick piers.
ON EAST SIDE OF ROAD, a range comprising former glove factory, boiler house and drying stores; 3 storeys, 7:3:1:2 bay north west front, segmental headed window openings with timber and cast-iron windows with glazing bars; 1960s bay to right of centre has wide sliding door and loading doors above; tall tapered square chimney behind north range, built of brick with Lombardy frieze cornice and a stone base.
INTERIOR: Office: much of original joinery remains, including panelled doors, cupboards and staircase with splat balusters and turned newels; tiled hall floor. Drying sheds have tie-beam trusses and louvres. Ranges on east side of road have king- and queen-post roof trusses and thin cast-iron columns supporting timber and original reinforced concrete floors.
Baily and Company moved to this site at Beckery in Glastonbury in 1867 and completed the construction of these works by 1896.
The following accretions are not included in the listing:- the C20 concrete sheds on the east side of the east range, the fire escape and cladding on the north end of the east range, the 1960s infilling between the two east ranges, the later scouring house attached to the west side of the west range, the C20 lavatory block in the north east corner of the yard of the west range and the C20 concrete shed on the north end of the west range.
SOURCE: [1] English Heritage Architectural Investigation Report, November 2002. [2] C19 building plans.
A large homogeneous Victorian tannery complex with most of its component buildings remaining intact.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26669958

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)