Description

326/0/10079 ROWLANDS ROAD
27-NOV-07 Former Railway Goods Shed

II
Former railway goods shed, 1847.

MATERIALS: coursed rubble sandstone with grey slate roof.

PLAN: a single storey 4 bay rectangular building with its main axis north-south, with an open interior. The eastern side is built into a steep embankment rising to eaves height at the rear. The railway tracks entered from a branch of the main line at the southern end of the shed on the west side, and continued beyond the northern end for a short distance. Horse drawn or later motor driven transport entered at the north end on the east side, the embankment making side access impossible.

EXTERIOR: the south gable end has a timber double door on the left side with rusticated stone quoins and a heavy timber lintel extending beyond the door with a pair of metal loops from which the wagon gage height bar was suspended. Centrally high in the gable is a window with semi-circular arched head formed of narrow stone voussoirs, and replacement 4 light frame, the arched top covered with plywood but retaining 4 small original panes. The west side has 4 windows similar to that on the south gable, evenly spaced. About half way along the side is a stone carved with the initials B F A (those of a local coal merchant). The north gable end has a similar opening to that on the south end, at the left side, with a concrete lintel. Under the lintel is a cast iron beam with an inscription MUSGRAVE SON & HEATON, BOLTON 1847 (the name of a local engineering firm). At the base of the door the original railway tracks can be seen emerging from the concrete floor. The window is similar to the rest but with all its original 16 lights surviving. To the left side is a round-headed double doored cart entrance.

INTERIOR: the interior has 3 exposed trusses of king-post construction with a metal strut replacing the king post and bolted through the tie-beam via a semi-circular iron cradle, and a central beam running longitudinally across the tie beams. The truss ends are supported on timber corbels with shallow stone buttresses below. There are traces of a possible former floor level at the height of the wall plate. The south-east quadrant of the floor is occupied by a raised platform approximately .8 metres high, of coursed rubble with a stone flag floor. The remainder of the floor is concrete, covering the railway tracks which run from south to north through the west side of the building. A post in the centre of the building, near the northern end of the platform and rising to the central truss, forms the upright member of a pivoting hand cranked jib crane. The post and arm are of squared timber with an angled brace, and are operated by a manual cog and ratchet winding mechanism with a cable drum at the base running up to a large cast iron cable wheel at the top. The cable has a pulley system at the jib end wheel and the crane rotates through 360 degrees.

HISTORY: the railway line and station at Summerseat was opened as part of the Bury to Rawtenstall line in 1846, and the goods shed was probably built soon after. It is possible that there was initially an open platform at the site. The line and shed were principally designed to serve local cotton mills of which there were several, the nearest being Twist Mill. The station was rebuilt in 1860 by the East Lancashire Railway's resident engineer, John Perring, and the jib crane may date to this time if not earlier. Structural strengthening to the east wall took place in 1890, and the roof was partly replaced using traditional materials in the early C20. The mills which the goods shed served were in decline by the early C20, and the nearest, Twist Mill, was gone by 1939. The siding and yard were still in use up to the early 1960s, but the tracks were removed around the time the railway became single track in 1967.

SOURCES: M Nevell & I Hradil: Station Goods Shed, Rowlands Road, Summerseat, University of Manchester Archaeological Unit (2006)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The former railway goods shed at Summerseat is listed in Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a survival from the expansionist second phase of railway development, dating to 1847
* It is associated with the local cotton industry which it and the railway it adjoins were built to serve
* It survives virtually intact and unaltered from its original structure, dimensions, and floor plan
* It demonstrates the original flow of traffic transferring cotton goods from road to rail transport
* It contains its original raised platform and a rare working hand-cranked jib crane dating to the mid-nineteenth century.

Reasons for Listing

* It is a survival from the expansionist second phase of railway development, dating to 1847
* It is associated with the local cotton industry which it and the railway it adjoins were built to serve
* It survives virtually intact and unaltered from its original structure, dimensions, and floor plan
* It demonstrates the original flow of traffic transferring cotton goods from road to rail transport
* It contains its original raised platform and a rare working hand-cranked jib crane dating to the mid-nineteenth century

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671548

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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