Monument Type(s):

• GOODS SHED (Mid 19th century - 1849 AD? to 1879 AD)

Summary

A railway goods shed of around 1848, for the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway Company. Protected by Grade II Listing.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events: None recorded

Description

Listed at Grade II on 19/02/2019, along with Rednal Station (see PRN 33100). ->

-> The station at Rednal stands on the line which opened as the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway in October 1848. The Shrewsbury and Chester Railway Company (S&CRC) had been formed in 1846, following a merger of the North Wales Mineral Railway and the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Junction Railway. This merger allowed the new company to use sections of line which had already been constructed near Chester and Wrexham, with new tracks being laid to carry the line further south. The engineer for the line was Henry Robertson, with contractor Thomas Brassey in partnership with William Mackenzie and Robert Stephenson. The station building at Rednal was designed by the architect Thomas Penson (junior) of Chester, who lived from around 1790 - 1859 and worked widely in the local area and in North Wales. ->

-> The station was also provided with a goods shed, as was common at the time. Here, it was set off to one side and accessed by a turntable, rather than the more common arrangement of goods sheds being sited parallel or at right angles to the railway line. This positioning is characteristic of earlier goods sheds; those parallel to the main line were common from around the 1860s onwards. ->

-> At Rednal, the goods shed is of the through type with cart dock, and probably had an internal office (there is no evidence for there having been an external office). The track ran through the shed, allowing carts to be brought directly inside to be loaded and unloaded. There would most likely have been a platform allowing this to take place, with a jib crane fixed to a bearing in the roof structure above and the floor below. ->

-> Timber goods sheds survive less well than their stone or brick counterparts; those that do survive tend to be from later in the C19. This goods shed at Rednal is a rare survivor from the early days of the development of the railways. ->

-> The station closed in the 1960s and the goods shed is now in use for storage. <1>

Photographs taken 1st July 2017. <2>

<01> Historic England (Designation), 2019-Feb-18, Case Name: Rednal Goods Shed and Station - Case Number: 1454354 (Advisory designation documentation). SSA30661.

<02> Haynes J B, 2014 onwards, Comments by J B Haynes, HER Compiler, 03/08/2017 (SMR comment). SSA27226.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.