Monument record 8627/1/3 - Boughton Cold Store

Second World War or early Post-War, Cold Store or Buffer Depot. Now demolished.

{1} Government (Ministry of Food?) built many cold stores to a standard pattern during WWII, later being sold into the private sector. The cold store at Boughton is of uncertain origin but it is possible that this was WWII originally.

{3} During the early part of The Cold War (ie. 1940/50s) a system was maintained to provide a strategic stockpile of food to ensure a degree of regional self-sufficiency. With realisation of the potential devastation of the hydrogen bomb, the provision of Civil Defence was scaled down in the 1960s and with it the number of Cold Stores reduced. Even so a number were maintained into the 1990s.
Technologically Cold Stores represented contemporary state-of-the-art storage facilities. 47 were built, all bar 6 in England. They can be divided into 3 groups based on their internal storage capacity; 2 x 1,000,000cu.ft. buildings, 5 x 500,000cu.ft. buildings, 40 x 250,000cu.ft. buildings. The National Monuments Record (NMR) holds the original design drawings for these. Northampton's was listed as being in good condition in September 1997; there are no others in the county.

{4} SP 737 653. A Cold Store or Buffer Depot is located on the east side of a dismantled railway line. The Cold Store is standard Ministry of Works type erected during the Second World War. It is a three-storey structure formerly with cooling plant to either side. Projecting from the centre of the long elevations are four-storey towers which house lift shafts and stair wells. Standard drawings of this type of Cold Store are held by the NMR.

{5} Emergency foodstores or Buffer Depots were created by the government during the war to maintain a strategic food stockpile. This policy continued into the Post-War period, when private companies were usually retained to maintain the store buildings and stockpiles.

Externally the depot appears to be in good condition, part of it is occupied by a furniture company.

<1> Lowry B., 1998, Oral Report to SMR, (checked) (Oral Report). SNN50491.

<2> Armishaw A., 2001, Boughton Cold Store, (unchecked) (Photographic prints (COL)). SNN101424.

<3> Cocroft W.D., 2001, Cold War Monuments: An Assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme, (unchecked) (Report). SNN101426.

<4> Historic England, Unknown, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, Wayne D Cocroft/02-JUN-1998/RCHME: Cold War Project (Oral Report). SNN111577.

<5> Undated, Externally held archive reference, NMR95/10021-25 Cold Storage Depot November 1940 (Archive). SNN113573.

Record last edited

Jan 30 2023 2:35PM