East block engine and boiler house FFF 18 25th November 2022
The engine and boiler house on the north east corner of east block, is a brick building with a deep basement in which the engine and boiler were housed. The building style matches the rest of east block with dark brick on a bluestone plinth. The southern half is unusual in that it has no ground level floor, but was essentially a roof over the engine room below which was at the same level as the adjoining lower floor under bay 8. It spans across the area to the east wall of east block as part of the sawdust collection system.
The northern half of the building has a basement room, which held the boiler. It connects to the sunken engine room, and the basement under Bay 8. Above ground level the northern half of this building has a tall windowless room with a concrete floor. This is part of the shavings collection system. This has been updated many times and has now two large conical ‘cyclone’ dust collectors placed on top of it.
North of the boiler house was a square brick chimney connected to the boiler room by an underground flue. Although the chimney is easily identified in earlier photos, it was demolished some time in the 80’s before the 1988 study was done.
The building has been extensively and unsympathetically modified as newer dust extraction systems have been added. This area needs a thorough archaeological study to determine what is original and what is of a later period. The basement area is full of rubble and rubbish beneath which the original boiler is said to be buried. The earlier B&W photo gives a good idea of how this corner of east block looked when east block was still in regular use. The stairs lead down to the sub floor area under bay 8 to the right, and the boiler house to the left.
This is a fascinating area of the workshops which needs to be faithfully restored and made accessible to the public.
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