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Monument details

HER Number:TR 04 SW 56
Type of record:Monument
Name:Workshops, Newtown Railway Works

Summary

The locomotive workshops were the first main component of the site to be developed. The workshops comprised a range 1200ft long by up to 200ft wide, consisting of various shops & the main engine house.


Grid Reference:TR 0180 4163
Map Sheet:TR04SW
Parish:ASHFORD, ASHFORD, KENT

Monument Types

Full description

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The locomotive workshops were the first main component of the site to be developed. The workshops comprised a range 1200ft long by up to 200ft wide, consisting of various shops & the main engine house.

The first phase of 1847/8 contained engine repair shops, machine shop/turnery, tender shop, smiths' shop, boiler shop, engine house and water tank
The main range of brick built workshops, although single storey, is 28ft high and comprises 25 bays of tall arches of a central covered passageway which formerly contained a traverser allowing engines to be positioned over pits. Some of the walls, due to the loads involved, are 2ft thick although generally only 18" thick. The southern exterior wall is articulated by double round-headed arched panels. Set forward of the northern elevation is a block containing the engine house and associated stoke house and this also had a double round-headed arches but with an additional masonry string course and cornice.

In the mid to late 19thC these works were extened in two phases to the west by a further 27 bays. These extentions were roofed in a similar style to the original build, wooden queens-post trusses with metal princess rods.

The final extension phases took place in 1909 as a result of the S.E Railways amalgamation with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. The external linear extensions were designed to loosely match the existing elevations, but the new elevations were quite different in detail while the internal extensions made much more use of structural steel. (1)

Additional bibliography. (2-3)


<1> RCHME, 1991, The Railway Works Ashford, RCHME 1991 (Unpublished document). SKE6767.

<2> Alan Baxter & Associates, 2004, Ashford Railway Works - Historic Buildings Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE16615.

<3> Museum of London Archaeology, 2008, Newtown Railway Works, New Town Road, Ashford: A Standing Building Survey Report (Unpublished document). SKE16614.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Unpublished document: RCHME. 1991. The Railway Works Ashford. RCHME 1991.
<2>Unpublished document: Alan Baxter & Associates. 2004. Ashford Railway Works - Historic Buildings Assessment.
<3>Unpublished document: Museum of London Archaeology. 2008. Newtown Railway Works, New Town Road, Ashford: A Standing Building Survey Report.

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