Building record 7198/243/1 - The Laundry

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{1}Opened as London Road Union Workhouse in 1837-8, designed by Gilbert Scott. The union cared for the elderly, debilitated , those with incurable diseases. Along with the mentally disturbed who were not considered disturbed sufficiently for admission to Berrywood Asylum, Northampton. The main workhouse complex comprised two E shaped and interconnected buildings forming an overall plan facing E. A single outbuilding was sited on its southern side within gardens extending around the N and W sides of the workhouse divided by pathways. By the 1900 OS map the complex had gained a laundry building on its northern side within its walled or fenced enclosure. A new wing was connected by a corridor to the E side of the 2nd of the 2 blocks and the Carey Cottages had been built to the E of the laundry, a separate wing was sited to the south of the main block. The 1926 edition OS map showed 2 small outbuildings added to the N side of the laundry surrounded by a short length of walling was apparently a free standing chimney.
The Original Laundry was a single storied rectangular building orientated EW, this has been encompassed with later additions to the NE NW and S sides to form an irregularly shaped single building complex. A boundary wall is present on the N side of the boundary along the S side of an access road. The ground level slopes down to the E so that the road is almost a metre above the floor level of room 9, but level with rooms 2 and 3. The exterior of the original laundry is the only building in the complex to be constructed entirely in red brick. Small closers were used at the corners of the building. Chamfered bricks (possibly cast) were used at the corner edges and also lined door and window reveals. Blue engineering bricks were used for the foundation plinth flush with the wall, one course of which is visible at exterior ground level. At the NW corner of the building, a single blue engineering brick projects N suggesting the wall had been extended although there was no other evidence of this. The brickwork was bonded with a yellow sand mortar with ironstone and manganese inclusions. A prominent change of build was apparent in the W gable end at four courses above the eaves represented by a thicker mortar course. A white limestone coping was at the surviving W gable and this included a single simply moulded stone at the roof apex. The stone course raised the roofline slightly above the brickwork and enabled the diverting of water away from brickwork prior to guttering.
The roof was a single steep pitch covered with hand cut grey slate. The apex was topped with red ceramic ridge tiles. A single brick chimney stack was present on the S side of the building which incorporated a limestone apron.An entrance was located at the SW corner. Of the original 11 windows 6 windows had been retained. In the interior no evidence of fixtures and fitting remianed except for a single sawn off iron bracket on the N side of one truss. Three windows were converted into doorways to romms 1 and 5 when these structures were added on.To the NW of the laudry Room 9 was built espescially for calendering and finishing, with large linen presses adjacent to the E wall. The concrete floor in the room had been covered with parquet flooring when the concrete was still wet., much of the parquet had been removed. At the NE end of the room the concrete floor was slightly raised so that it was flush with the parapet, which formed a straight border around it. A 2nd area within the N part of the room was laid with large York-stone flags around the flue, possibly for fire safety. The roof structure comprised 3 bays each with a cantilevered truss of iron girders supported by 4 vertical H steels set into the concrete floor. The new room had been designed to fit into the existing irregular space created by the N boundary wall and rooms 6 and 7.
Rooms 2 and 3 were purpose built boiler rooms added to the laundry between 1926 and 1968. These were 2 identical NS orientated rooms attached to the E end of the Old Laundry. They were used as a garage and carpenter's workshop all of the fittings had been removed. The flues below the concrete floor structure were open for the removal of asbestos, these were brick lined and floored and had been heavily sooted.
Rooms 4,11,12,13,14,15 formed a row of ancillary rooms at the far eastern side of the complex, all these rooms were concrete floored and white painted.

<1> Thorne A.; Pears B.; Parry S.; Westgarth A., 2003, Historic Buildings Recording and Desk-Based Assessment of the Laundry Block at St Mary's Hospital, Kettering, Section 5 (Report). SNN103159.

Record last edited

Nov 30 2023 12:29PM