Building 57 (Wet Guncotton Store), Rnad Bull Point, St Budeaux, City of Plymouth

Entry Name: Building 57 (Wet Guncotton Store), Rnad Bull Point

Listing Date: 17 April 2009

Grade: II

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1393266

English Heritage Legacy ID: 500713

ID on this website: 101393266

Location: Riverside, Plymouth, Devon, PL5

County: City of Plymouth

Electoral Ward/Division: St Budeaux

Parish: Non Civil Parish

Built-Up Area: Plymouth

Traditional County: Devon

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon

Tagged with: Building

Description

740-1/0/10056 RNAD BULL POINT
17-APR-09 Building 57 (Wet Guncotton Store), RNA
D Bull Point

GV II
Ammunition store. 1897-1905. English bond brick with double-pitched roof covered with corrugated sheet.

PLAN: rectangular plan.

EXTERIOR: single storey; 2 gables wide and 5 bays long. Gables form pediments defined by brick dentil courses, similar eaves, the sides divided into square recessed panels. Concrete lintels to boarded double doors with overlights in the gabled ends. The sides have segmental-arched sash windows with glazing bars.

INTERIOR: timber trusses with wooden plank lining.

HISTORY: This wet guncotton store, built in 1896-7, survives as the least-altered and most significant surviving example of a guncotton magazine or store, here relating to the core group of buildings at Bull Point, the finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards, consistent with the high standards practised by the Ordnance Board in its designs for fortifications and barracks from the C17 and a remarkable example of integrated factory planning of the period. It also forms one of the principal buildings relating to a critical period of expansion in the Royal Navy - the so-called 'Great Race' in the build-up to the First World War. Guncotton magazines were built for the new smoke-less explosives which replaced gunpowder from the 1890s. It could be stored wet or dry, the latter needing precautions against explosion, hence the earth traverses. In its dry state it was more stable, as is reflected in the much lighter construction of this early example of such a store.

Bull Point, located just to the north of the Royal Navy's new Steam Yard at Keyham, was the last great project of the Board of Ordnance, which was abolished in 1856. It provided storage for 40,000 barrels of powder in an integrated complex including a floating magazine where powder was unloaded and the 1805 St Budeaux laboratory where it was checked and processed, before being taken to the Bull Point magazines (SAM). In contrast to other yards, Bull Point was from the outset provided with a set of buildings planned and dedicated to the various functions for the processing as well as the storage of the new types of ordnance which had a revolutionary impact on the design of naval ships and fortifications. All the buildings - mostly in ashlar with rock-faced dressings and fronting an avenue to the S of the magazines - are stylistically coherent with the magazines themselves, and comprise both the finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards and a remarkable example of integrated factory planning of the period.

For a full history of the site, see Building 13 (qv).

Reasons for Listing

This wet guncotton store, built in 1896-7, survives as the least-altered and most significant surviving example of a guncotton magazine or store, and is an integral part of the finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards, consistent with the high standards practised by the Ordnance Board in its designs for fortifications and barracks from the C17 and a remarkable example of integrated factory planning of the period.

External Links

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