Building MPM2047 - Former Wagon Shed, Fort Cumberland

Restored late-19th century building at Fort Cumberland known as the Wagon Shed. The timber-framed structure was originally constructed between 1861 and 1886 incorporating an earlier brick wall which forms the rear (south) wall of the building. The building was restored in 2000 when many of the original timbers were replaced due their poor condition. It has been assumed the structure was originally built to house carts or wagons. It was also used as a garage for motor vehicles in the early 20th century.

Restored late-19th century building at Fort Cumberland, known as the Wagon Shed. The shed is a timber-framed structure which was constructed at some point between 1861 and 1886 incorporating an earlier brick wall which forms the rear (south) wall of the building. The brick wall has a number of construction phases, the earliest of which date to the early and mid 19th century and relate to a former walled yard and structures to the north of the Guardhouse. It has been assumed the structure was originally built to house carts or wagons. It was also used as a garage for motor vehicles in the early 20th century. The building was restored in 2000 when many of the original timbers were replaced due their condition.

A survey and building recording were carried out in 1999 and 2000 prior to conservation/restoration work taking place. This revealed that the timber-framed structure of the Wagon Shed had been constructed around the late-19th century, with historical sources suggesting a date between 1861 and 1886 when it is first shown on a plan of the fort. The building was a fully hipped structure with six bays, each with a set of externally opening hinged double doors on the north front. The original doors were no longer extant in 1999 but have been replaced as part of the restoration work. The shed had a felted roof and the interior was originally painted white. An earlier brick wall had been used as the rear (south) wall to the shed, with two or three courses of brickwork added to raise the height of the wall when the shed was constructed. The wall had seven phases of construction relating to the use of the land and buildings directly north of the Guardhouse*.

The concrete floor is thought to date to the construction of the Wagon Shed in the late-19th century. Timbers or sleepers had been bolted to the floor at the end of the bays along the south wall possibly dating to when the shed was used to house motor vehicles in the early-20th century. These were observed as impressions in the concrete floor set across each bay, the timbers having at some point been removed. Each bay has the name and rank of the driver of the vehicle painted on the back wall.

Archaeological investigations were carried out when concrete pads for the door posts at the front of the building were removed during the restoration work. In one of these post holes the brick raft used for footings to support the north-western corner of the shed was observed. Another post hole revealed a short length of brick drain which ran northeast-southwest under the Wagon Shed floor and towards the Motor Transport Shed.


* The following is a summary of the phasing relating to the brick wall which forms the rear/south wall of the Wagon Shed. See the Report on the Survey of the Wagon Shed at Fort Cumberland by David Fellows and John Pidgeon for the full details.

Phase 1
The earliest part of the wall is the eastern half which was thought to be of an early-19th century date. The corner brickwork that survives at its western end showed that another wall ran at right angles to the north. This second wall was demolished during Phase 3. The walls may or may not have related to a building, or they may have formed the boundary walls of a courtyard.

Phase 2
Evidence of a lean-to structure was observed in the south-west corner of the Phase 1 brickwork. The lean-to would have been 1.05m wide and the roof pitch slightly less than 40 degrees. This was later demolished, probably when the Wagon Shed was built.

Phase 3
The western half of what is now the rear wall of the Wagon Shed was constructed pre-1861. A plan dated that year shows the wall to be part of a complex consisting of a walled yard with roofed structures and partition walls to the north of the Guardhouse. This section of wall was constructed on the same alignment as the eastern half, but a narrow gap was left separating the two halves of wall to allow access between the yard and the Guardhouse. At this point the wall running north from the earlier Phase 1 wall was demolished and the corner of the earlier wall was rebuilt to create a jamb for the opening.

Keying-in damage relating to a brick wall that ran south from the western corner of the Phase 1 wall and which partitioned the walled yard to the north of the Guardhouse was observed on the wall face.

A small roughly square gable roof structure 1.5m wide by 1.5m long with a pitched tile roof was constructed at the eastern end of the western half of wall. Part of the roof of this structure survives in the wall. It has been suggested this small building may have housed a toilet.

Phase 4
A limestone threshold step was inserted into the opening between the Phase 1 and Phase 3 sections of wall.

Phase 5
The timber-framed Wagon Shed was constructed between 1861 and 1886. Two or three courses of brickwork were added to the top of the wall at this stage to level and raise the height of the wall.

Phase 6
At some point after the Wagon Shed was constructed the gabled structure was demolished and the opening between the eastern and western walls was blocked up. The brick partition wall between the shed and the Guardhouse to the south was also demolished.

Phase 7
The keying-in of brick walls belonging to a toilet block constructed between the Wagon Shed and Guardhouse are visible in the wall. The block has since been demolished. The current ground level between the two buildings was also created during this phase, which probably dates to around the 1940s.

Fellows, David & Pidgeon, John, 2001, Report on the Survey of the Wagon Shed at Fort Cumberland (Bibliographic reference). SPM616.