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Summary

Grade II listed mid 19th building, the surviving part of canal workshops built by the Kennet and Avon Canal Company

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1289873: THE STONE BUILDING (KENNET AND AVON CANAL TRUST)
• Conservation Area: Newbury Town Centre

Monument Type(s):

• WAREHOUSE? (Victorian to Mid to Late 19th century - 1849 AD to 1866 AD)
• WORKSHOP (Victorian to Mid to Late 19th century - 1849 AD to 1866 AD)

Full Description

Although the listed building description <1> describes the Stone Building as a granary, it is reckoned to be the remaining section of workshops built by the Kennet and Avon Canal company when extending Newbury Wharf in the mid 19th century <2>. The extant listed building is not apparent on Davis' 1849 map <6>, though a group of buildings existed on the Wharf at this time. The late 19th century First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping <3><4> marks this area as 'Corn Wharf' and other nearby buildings on the Wharf were used for corn storage, but the Stone Building does not appear to have ever had the function of a grain warehouse. The rectangular plan form of the Stone Building was the south-eastern quarter of a larger rectangular block on the late 19th century Town Plan <3>; there were no buildings shown immediately to its east, which was the Timber Yard. On the 3rd Epoch of 1911, an additional building was attached to part of its southern wall <7>. By the early 1930s and the 4th Epoch OS <8>, all of the western part of the larger block had been demolished, and the Stone Building with its northern and southern ranges was enclosed within a yard. The yard with a slipway into the canal, was still present in 1967 <9>. At some point in the later 20th century however, the yard was demolished, leaving only the Stone Building. The building was listed in 1983 <1>.

West Berkshire Museum has a photograph showing the building in the early 21st century <10>. An application for repairs in 2016 included internal and external photographs of the roof <11>.

The Stone Building was used as a meeting place for the campaign group (later to become the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust) that fought to keep the canal from being closed in the 1950s.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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