Building record 6124/1/5 - The Roundhouse (No 2 Engine Shed)

The Roundhouse is a railway locomotive engine shed built in 1872 by the Midland Railway by architect John Holloway Saunders. Locally listed building.

{1} Midland Railway: Engine Shed. Large engine shed to the east of the Midland line. The building is extant, but current function unclear. Film 12, photo 5,6.

{3} The Roundhouse is a locomotive engine shed built in 1872 for the Midland railway by architect John Holloway Saunders. An identical roundhouse was built nearby in 1868 but was demolished in 1960 and replaced with a replacement storage shed that has also now been demolished.

The building is square in form and covered by a roof in three parts that provides a distinctive triple gable at the South and North elevations. The building was entered by locomotives from the North and then manoeuvred on a turntable to one of 24 roads within the building. The locomotives were then repaired and maintained as necessary. The turntable gives the name of ‘roundhouse’ to the building.

After 1966 the building was not used by the railways and became a storage and distribution warehouse, most notably for the Totectors company. A large sign still remains on the Northern elevation. Internally, the turntable has been removed and/or filled in and the smoke ducts have been removed. The windows have been bricked up from the outside but internally the steel frame windows remain.

{4} The turntable in the Wellingborough roundhouse, also known as no. 2 locomotive shed, was seventeen metres in diameter serving twenty-four roads, each road with one, or often two, funnel-shaped chimney flues discharging through the roof above. Several roads also had continuous inspection pits for maintenance of the engines. The Ordnance Survey Maps of 1888 and 1925 indicate that locomotives entered the shed through the archway in the centre of the north elevation, and that there were workshops attached to the extreme ends of the façade.

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Wellingborough (Industrial), (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100290.

<2> Chapman P., 2004, Desk-Based Assessment for Land East of Eastfield Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Report). SNN104811.

<3> Udall, J, 2020, Local listing of the Roundhouse and proposed Article 4 Direction (Report). SNN112094.

<4> Dishon, D, 2011, Old Wellingborough Motive Power Depot (15A) or Roundhouse, Mill Road, Wellingborough (Designation Advice Report). SNN112095.

Record last edited

Jun 7 2023 10:34AM