Planning
The siting
of the warehouse was recommended by the eminent engineer Thomas
Telford, who was supervising the completion of the canal, and
the detailed design was provided by Bartin Haigh, a Liverpool
builder who had probably had experience of building dock warehouses
in his home town. Haigh proposed a row of three adjoining units
with five floors and with brick vaulted cellars underneath.
The Canal Company thought that two units would be sufficient,
and to save expense, they suggested building only three floors
initially and adding the other two later if necessary. However,
Haigh recommended building to the full height, and this was
agreed.
Building Contract
William Rees & Son of Gloucester
put in a tender for £6600, and a contract was signed
on 18th May 1826. Within a month, it was found that the ground
was not as suitable as had been expected, and additional work
was required to lay large stone blocks to provide good foundations.
Possibly as a further consequence of the poor ground, it was
decided to lower the height of the building by one floor, and
the contract price was reduced by £820.
Materials
The bricks used for the walls probably
came from the riverside brickworks at Walham, and the stone
sills and lintels came from Bath and the Forest of Dean. The
contract allowed free use of the basin for unloading from boats,
but some of the bricks had to brought by horse and cart while
water was drained out of the basin to allow completion of the
canal banks. The timber for the roof frames and the floors
was probably imported from the Baltic area, and the roof slates
were brought round the coast from North Wales. The cast-iron
columns supporting the floors most likely came from William
Montague's foundry near Westgate Bridge.
Building Progress
William Rees and his men made
good progress with the building work, and by the end of the
year, they installed a stone tablet near the top of the wall
bearing the inscription "The Glocester and Berkeley Canal
Company's Warehouses Erected by W. Rees and Son Ano. Dom. 1826".
Work continued through the winter and was effectively completed
on schedule in February 1827. The Canal Company initially objected
to the hanging of the window shutters, but when Telford was
brought in to adjudicate, he ruled that they were sufficiently
near the description in the specification to be acceptable.
Thus the building was ready for the opening of the canal on
26th April 1827, and it no doubt provided a superb vantage
point for a few of the vast crowd who gathered to see the first
two vessels come to their moorings in the basin amid noisy
celebrations.
Early Tenants for the Cellars
The early tenants
were mainly local men who realised the advantage of importing
direct to Gloucester, thereby cutting out the former need for
trans-shipment at Bristol where there were high port charges.
The brick vaulted cellars were of immediate interest to two
firms of wine importers, Messrs. Johnsons (later Johnsons and
Tasker) and Messrs. Saunders (later Martin and Washbourne).
However, it was found that the doors and windows did not meet
the standard of security required by the Customs for bonded
stores, where imported goods could be kept without paying duty,
and so modifications were carried out by the Canal Company.
They also improved the rolling ways at the entrances to the
cellars. Unfortunately it was soon found that in wet weather,
the cellars suffered from flooding, and after repeated complaints
from the tenants, the Canal Company raised the floor a few
inches. One of the tenants then asked for a reduction in rent
as his storage space had been reduced, but the Canal Company
refused saying that the improved condition of the cellar compensated
for the loss of storage.
Early Tenants for the Main Floors
The upper part
of the building was designed so that individual floors on each
side of the central partition wall could be rented to different
merchants. There were two sets of boxed-in stairs with lockable
doors on all floors, so that each merchant only had access
to his own goods and to the hoisting winches that were installed
in the roof space over the loading doors. The early tenants
were mainly small corn merchants who started importing wheat,
barley and oats from Ireland and occasionally from Europe.
These included Mr. Lucy, Mr. Morris, Joseph Hobbs and James
Lloyd.
Paying Labourers
Another early tenant was the
firm of Price & Washbourne. They were primarily timber
merchants, but they also started importing corn, and they were
initially over-generous in paying labourers to do the unloading.
An old man later remembered "When they fust begind, they
know'd nought about it, and they gid at the rate of 9d per
hundred bushels. We did four-and-twenty hundred the very fust
dee. This reet didun't last more nor two dees, vor they zoon
found out as this yur reet wud niver do, and they drop't it.
If thy had ah kipd on as they begind, why two dees a wik wuld
ha dun I capeetal".
Increased Rents
By March 1829, all the floors
in the building were occupied and there was a waiting list
for space as it became available. Tenancies changed quite frequently
as each merchant's trade fluctuated, and there was some unofficial
sub-letting. To try to regularise matters, the Canal Company
gave all tenants formal notice to quit and proposed to introduce
higher rents. This was naturally resisted and eventually a
compromise was reached. In September 1833, it was agreed that
the rents would be £60 per annum for each cellar, £70
for each first floor and £65, £55 and £50
for the higher floors. The lower rents compensated for the
additional effort required when loading goods in and out of
the higher floors.
Atlas Bell
There were few watches around in those
days, and so the Canal Company set up a bell on the south east
corner of their warehouse to signal the docker's starting and
finishing times. The bell came from the full-rigged ship Atlas,
launched in 1812, that had made several voyages out to India
and China for the East India Company. As well as being rung
at regular times by the watchman on duty, it also served occasionally
as an alarm bell when there was a fire on board a ship or in
a warehouse.
Tenants in the 1830s and 40s
During the 1830s
and 40s, the corn trade was expanding and was moving into the
hands of larger merchants, such as J & C Sturge from Birmingham,
Wait James & Co from Bristol and Phillpotts Lloyds &
Co. These firms had their own warehouses in the docks, but
they still used the Canal Company's building for additional
space when required. Another important tenant was Fox Sons
& Co. It was during this period that iron bars were installed
in many of the lower window openings so that the floors could
be used as bonded stores.
Change to One Occupier in Each Half
Following
the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, there was a large increase
in corn imports, particularly from Europe and the Black Sea
ports around the mouth of the Danube. New corn merchants became
established and more warehouses were built. There was no longer
a need to cater for small merchants who only required one or
two floors, and the Canal Company was able to let each half
of their building as a unit. For many years, the western half
was occupied by Thomas Robinson & Co. and the eastern half
by John Weston & Co., both firms also having large warehouses
elsewhere in the docks.
Office Building
It seems that John Weston had
a small office in his part of the warehouse as the Canal Company
allowed him to have a stove with a chimney of terra-cotta tubes
passing outside the building. Then in 1873, Weston built a
single storey office adjoining the east end of the warehouse,
and this had the benefit of gas lighting as well as fireplaces.
A second floor was added in 1889. This extension obscured the
name "North Warehouse" that had been painted on the
east wall of the main building, and the sign was only revealed
again when the office was demolished in the 1980s.
Change to a Single Occupier
In the early years
of the 20th century, the western half of the warehouse was
used by G T Beard, who provided a storage service for corn
merchants, and the eastern half was used by the British Oil
and Cake Mill Company and then by Priday Metford & Co,
who operated the nearby City Flour Mills. Around 1920, Priday
Metford took over the whole building and for the first time
made access ways through the partition wall. In the eastern
half they established an electric-powered mill for producing
stone ground wheat meal flour, and the western half was used
for sack cleaning and for storage. Also at this time, two of
the original hand operated winches were removed and replaced
with electric powered hoists. Each hoist was operated by a
rope hanging down outside the building, and these were obviously
a temptation to inquisitive passers by. On one occasion, a
sack truck was lifted right up to the pulley at the top of
the hoist so that its protruding handles displaced some of
the tiles in the roof of the gable above.
New Uses for Cellars
The brick-vaulted cellars
of the warehouse had not always been used fully since the early
days as they were rather damp and liable to flood occasionally.
During the Second World War, they were brought into use again
to provide an air raid shelter and a rifle range for the local
Home Guard.
Building Shows its Age
Priday Metford & Co
continued using the whole building after the war, but one day
it was found that one of the roof trusses had rotted right
through and was only being supported on the sacks of flour
being stored there. Temporary repairs were carried out, but
it was clear that other woodwork was also at risk. All the
roof trusses and floor beams had been built into the walls,
and over the years, dampness had penetrated through the bricks
and affected the wood. At this stage, there was a proposal
to demolish part of the building in order to make space for
constructing a second lock into the River Severn, and because
of this, Priday Metford gave up possession in 1962. In the
event, the second lock did not get built, and the whole warehouse
remained standing. The upper floors were not now considered
safe, but the ground floor and cellars were used by builders
merchants etc until 1975.
Proposed Demolition Not Allowed
By this time,
the building had been listed as being of Special Architectural
and Historic Interest, and Gloucester City Council pressed
for proper repairs to be carried out. Some temporary repairs
were done and shoring was erected to support the front of the
building, but in 1977 British Waterways applied for listed
building consent for demolition. They argued that their responsibility
was to run the waterways, not to restore uneconomic buildings,
but following a Public Inquiry in 1981, consent for demolition
was refused.
 Building
Rescued
The building remained empty and continued to
deteriorate until 1985, when it was bought by Gloucester City
Council for conversion into their main offices. The contractors
responsible for carrying out the work were Longs of Bath. Most
of the roof had to be replaced, but the main timbers were retained
wherever possible. Any woodwork that had been affected by rot
was cut away and replaced by short metal girders. The former
loading doors on each floor were replaced by windows, and the
brick vaulting of one of the cellars was destroyed to allow
the introduction of a lift shaft and staircase. This work re-exposed
the large stone blocks that had been used as foundations and
uncovered the original level of the cellar floor before it
was raised to reduce flooding. The two surviving hoisting winches
were preserved in the roof space.
A New Role
The restored building was handed over
to Gloucester City Council staff in July 1986. To complement
the restoration, the Rotary Club of Gloucester and Gloucester
Civic Trust replaced the Atlas Bell which used to hang on the
corner of the warehouse. Later modifications converted the
upper floor of the building into a Civic Suite with Council
Chamber and Mayor's Parlour.
Sources
This article is mainly based on the minute
books of the Canal Company (PRO RAIL 829). Other sources include
the original plans and contract specification (Glos.RO D2460),
memories of an early corn porter (Glos. Extracts Vol.4 p254-263),
Poor Rate Books (Glos.RO), BWB evidence at the Public Inquiry,
and the memories of Messrs W.Ellis, H.Staite and D.Barnes. |
