SNN117149 - Archaeological Standing Building Recording: CEDOS Building Westbridge Depot 9-13 St James Mill Road Northampton NN5 5JW

Border Archaeology undertook a programme of Archaeological Standing Building Recording (ASBR) to Historic England Level 2 of an early 20th century industrial works building known as the CEDOS Building, Westbridge Depot, 9-13 St James Mill Road, Northampton NN5 5JW, the results of which may be summarized thus: The CEDOS building appears originally to have been constructed at some time between 1901 and 1906 as a joinery shop associated with a complex of steam saw mills known as the West Bridge Depot, on the southwest outskirts of Northampton town centre. In 1906, the saw mills were purchased by the Northampton Corporation and the joinery shop was adapted to form a stables and stores building, with a 36-stall stable range at ground floor level and a hayloft, store and harness room above. At the start of the First World War in 1914, the building was taken over as a cavalry barracks, utilizing the stalls at ground level with troop accommodation on the upper floor. It ceased to be used as a cavalry barracks in 1919 and between 1922 and 1929 it was used as the manufacturing base of CEDOS Motorcycles, formed by Cedric and Oscar Hanwell. From the 1930s until c.1980 (including throughout the Second World War) it was occupied as a factory and depot associated with the CEDOS Engineering Works, a manufacturer of specialist aircraft components and was subsequently used as a Council waste disposal works building and offices until recently. The existing structure consists of a long rectangular two-storey gabled building (aligned northwest-southeast) of brick construction with a pitched asbestos roof. It comprises the principal 17-bay brick range of two-storeys (probably built in 1901-1906, altered in 1906 and heavily reconstructed in the mid-20th century) with a single storey brick gabled extension to the SE which was added between 1947 and 1963, with a late 20th century open fronted vehicle storage shed of steel-framed construction at the far southeastern end. Substantial alterations appear to have been made to the CEDOS building in the 1920s-40s, which may well have been associated with the usage of the building as a motorcycle works during the 1920s and subsequently as a factory producing aircraft components, which continued in use throughout and after the Second World War. The CEDOS building also appears to have suffered damage caused by flooding in 1939 and as a result of German bombing raids in the vicinity of the West Bridge Depot site which are documented as having occurred in 1917 and 1940. The upper floor appears variously to have been used as a joinery shop, warehouse, troop accommodation (during the First World War) workshops and offices. The interior appears originally to have comprised six compartments but was significantly rearranged in the late 1990s with the insertion of a series of plasterboard partitions and suspended ceilings to provide offices associated with the Council works depot. The internal arrangements on the upper floor appear to have been significantly reconfigured in several stages during the mid-late 20th century and it is likely that the present concrete stairway with metal handrail leading from the entrance to the upper floor dates from a mid-20th century phase of alteration, contemporary with the re-fronting of the northwest-facing elevation of the building.Consequently, few visible features, fixtures or fittings of historic interest have survived on the upper floor, the most notable being the extant steel-framed scissor trusses marking the bay subdivisions which could be of early to mid-20th century date, the exposed, planked timber floors in three compartments within the central and southeastern portions of the upper floor (Compartments F, J and M) and two blocked end-to-end fireplaces in Compartments C and E, which may relate to the harness room and/or the domestic usage of the upper floor as troop barracks during the First World War. Little evidence of machinery, fixtures or fittings relating to the usage of the building as a joinery shop, cavalry barracks, motorcycle factory or engineering works was identified within the upper floor of the building; it is likely that these were all removed when the building was converted to use as offices for the Council waste depot in the early 1990s. The interior of the ground floor (which originally housed the stabling) appears similarly to have been the subject of extensive alterations during the mid-late 20th century, with the insertion of brick, concrete and plasterboard partitions of varying dates. The two compartments at the northwest end of the ground floor (Compartments N and O) had been converted in the mid-late 20th century to use as lavatories and locker rooms respectively, with little indication as to what their original usage may have been, although it is noteworthy that they were clearly demarcated from the rest of the range, which may indicate that they were used for storage or possibly as loose boxes separate from the main stabling. Immediately southeast of this was the boiler room (Compartment P), accessed externally via a flight of stairs, which housed equipment and piping relating to the modern heating system and had been subdivided with the insertion of a brick wall to accommodate a smaller compartment housing a large water tank which had been removed previously (Compartment Q). Evidence of a blocked doorway was noted linking the boiler room to the compartment to the southeast (Compartment T) which appears to have been bricked up prior to the insertion of a large rectangular chimney flue in this location, probably in the mid-20th century, at which time the heating system appears to have been installed. Further to the SE, a part-glazed sliding door leads into a hallway (Compartment R) which provides access to two compartments to the northeast and northwest, while to the southeast is a corridor flanked on either side by a series of small compartments probably used as storerooms or workshops and demarcated by brick and plasterboard partitions (U1-U6) which appear variously to be of a mid-late 20th century date; no evidence of fixtures and fittings associated with stalls, hayracks or drainage features were noted in this area. A plasterboard partition wall demarcates this corridor from a long compartment, eight bays in length which extends NW-SE and appears to represent the least altered portion of the ground floor (Compartment V). A doorway at the far SE end provides access to the single-storey extension which was added between 1947 and 1963. No evidence of intact fixtures or fittings relating to the usage of the ground floor as a stable was noted in this area with most of the walls being whitewashed and windows boarded or bricked up. The most notable historic feature of interest was the series of cast-iron columns carried on concrete bases running longitudinally (northwest-southeast) through the middle of the central and southeastern bays of the ground floor which presumably demarcated the stalls on either side.