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Monument details

HER Number:TR 15 SE 298
Type of record:Listed Building
Name:THE CLOSE, Bridge/Bridge Union Workhouse, Union Road, Bridge

Summary

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1835 to 1835

Summary from record TR 15 SE 301:

The Control Centre for the Bridge-Blean Rural District was in the Public Assistance Institution in Bridge. Around September 1941 an air-raid siren was fixed to the building, but this had been replaced by a more powerful siren elsewhere in the village by mid September 1942.


Grid Reference:TR 17933 54378
Map Sheet:TR15SE
Parish:BRIDGE, CANTERBURY, KENT

Monument Types

  • SITE (Post Medieval - 1835 AD to 1835 AD)
  • CIVIL DEFENCE BUILDING (Modern - 1939 AD? to 1945 AD?)
Protected Status:Listed Building (II) 1336514: THE CLOSE

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5273 BRIDGE UNION ROAD (north side)
The Close TR 15 SE 13/211
II
2. Formerly the Workhouse. Dated 1835. Tall centre building of two storeys in brick with hipped Welsh slate roof, with lower side wings of 2 storeys which continue round to form a court to rear. Centre has 5 bays divided by pilasters, with 3 windows to first floor in alternate bays. Three windows to ground floor, two of which to the outer bays, as those above. Centre segmental- headed carriage entry with keystone now blocked by two modern doors. Lower wings of seven bays to the right, four to the left, segmental-headed windows with glazing bars, Welsh slate roofs. In the courtyard to the rear a chapel with belfry divides the former male and female ranges.
Listing NGR: TR1795654359

Description from record TR 15 SE 301:
The Control Centre for the Bridge-Blean Rural District was in the Public Assistance Institution in Bridge. This was presumably on Union Road, and I am assuming it was what is now called ‘The Close’ (N.B.this may be incorrect!). The Control Centre had been established by December 1940 (probably much earlier). The building was at first protected with sandbags, but these, showing signs of weakness, were later (between 5 December 1940 and 13 March 1941) replaced with ‘hollow concrete blocks’. Around September 1941 an air-raid siren was fixed to the building. It seems to have been a one-and-a-half horse-power Steam Siren (perhaps powered from the institutional laundry). By mid September 1942, however, this had been replaced by an awesome four-horse-power electric siren on an iron platform, erected ‘on land belonging to S. Gilbert’ (it is not yet clear where this was; Gilbert was proprietor of a blacksmith’s on the High Street). Much of the Bridge-Blean Rural-District civil-defence infrastructure was situated in Bridge, including a Rescue Party depot, transport garage, and decontamination centre, but it has not yet been possible to determine where any of these were. Around the 11 May 1942 it was determined to make Bridge a triumvirate, and this will probably have centred on the Public Assistance Institution
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : Unknown
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : unknown
Date of visit :


English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Bridge Blean Rural District Council, 01/01/39, Bridge Blean Rural District Council War Administration Minute Books (Unpublished document). SKE15277.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
---Unpublished document: Bridge Blean Rural District Council. 01/01/39. Bridge Blean Rural District Council War Administration Minute Books.
---Map: English Heritage. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.