Demolition of Oldhams oldest building Clegg St Railway Warehouse

The Park Road, or more correctly Clegg Street,
Railway Warehouse at Oldham was built in c1850
and although it often know as the London &
North Western Railway Warehouse it was actually
built by the Oldham, Ashton & Guide Bridge
Railway which was jointly owned by the London &
North Western and the Manchester, Sheffield &
Lincolnshire Railway (later the Great Central
Railway). It was last used in the 1960s and since
then has stood empty; becoming increasingly
derelict. It owes its survival to the fact of being listed grade 2 on the basis of its unusual curved
plan layout. Over the years there have been many
proposals for the re-use of this building but none
have succeeded. The building is now owned by
the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council who
are prepared to give it to a developer. Another
redevelopment plan was announced 2004, involving
a hotel, office and retail development . Nothing
has since materialised and it is felt that if a
viable end use cannot be found it may have to be
demolished on account of its condition, to relieve
the local authority of the financial burden in these
uncertain economic times. But although it was
listed because it was unusual, one could now argue that its listing status is further justified on the
basis that it is one of the very few surviving Victorian
railway warehouses in the region. There are
some survivors of course, the Liverpool Road and
the Great Northern warehouses in Manchester and
the Heaton Norris warehouse in Stockport, but
large numbers have been demolished. There were
other warehouses in Oldham which have all gone as
have those at Shaw and Royton. Similarly warehouses
have been demolished in Rochdale, Bury and
Bolton. Many of these were built for the use of the
cotton trade and one small warehouse survives at
New Hey station labelled "Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railway Cotton Warehouse" This railway warehouse, built in a convex curve, 4-storeys high under a Welsh slate roof. Inner face of
curve symmetrically planned with 4 loading bays
with shallow gables over.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Demolition
• Oldhams
• oldest
• building
• Clegg St
• Railway