Listed Building record MDR11068 - Railway Centre and Engine Shed, off Whittington Road, Staveley

Railway Centre and Engine Shed, off Whittington Road, Staveley, built in the 1870s. Barrow Hill Engine Shed. A 24 road roundhouse radiating from a central turntable, located off the Midland Railway's Springwell branch. Construction commenced in July 1869 and it replaced an earlier depot located within Staveley Works complex. After abandonment in the early 1990s it was spot-listed as a rare surviving example of a roundhouse and a voluntary society has subsequently been formed dedicated to its restoration and use. In 1999 the colliery engine from Westthorpe Colliery, Killamarsh, was stored here. (1) From the National Heritage List for England: 'The following item shall be added: CAMPBELL DRIVE, 1. BARROW HILL 1675A SK 47 NW 3/24 Engine Shed 200 metres west of Campbell Drive (in unnamed road) II 2. Locomotive 'roundhouse' or. engine shed. Circa 1870s, built for the Staveley Coal and Iron Company. Iron-framed, clad in brick with renewed part-glazed roof (originally lead sheeting) to roundhouse, Welsh slate to ancillary buildings. Plan completely intact. The roundhouse (in fact rectangular on plan) shelters the turntable with 22 tracks (or 'stalls'), 9 with service pits. Within the S and W corners are the fitters' workshop and office. Attached to the E corner is the general office, to the N corner the sand-dryer (in a tower over a kiln); to the W corner a watertank above a general workshop. Detached to the SW are the mess and lamp shed, the machine shop and, at the entrance a later (possibly 1940s) sander unit (to enable the locomotives to grip the rails). All ancillary buildings of brick with simple detailing (windows under cambered arches, some with original frames with small panes) except the lamp shed which is timber. The machine shop has a prominent louvred roof. Principal roundhouse with H-section iron or steel uprights, the valley gutters issuing into attached downpipes. 6 x 5 unequal bays. Cobbled floor. Extractor fan fittings (the fans removed). Turntable renewed C1931 by Cowans, Sheldon & Co Ltd, Carlisle). The building functioned both as a workshop and a turning place for locomotives serving the local coal mines and iron works. It is (1990) the last operational roundhouse in Britain and is notable for retaining its full complement of associated buildings. Listing NGR: SK4132175457.' (2)