The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm
TQ 2820 8434; (Fiona Keith-Lucas); watching brief and historic building survey; Mar 2003-Oct 2004 The Roundhouse Trust RCF03
Work to record the historic fabric of the surviving undercroft of the building and a watching brief on ground reduction on the north west part of the building were undertaken in advance of, and during, refurbishment works. The building was built in the 1840s as a circular brick engine house with a central turntable. The turntable was supported on a circular wall within the undercroft and surrounded at upper level by the cast-iron columns that support the roof. The undercroft had a circular arched corridor around the wall beneath the columns. A system of 24 arched tunnels, each beneath a track at upper level, radiated out from this corridor. Work revealed the original floor of the upper level, the system of drainage beneath each track, by which the engines were emptied of water, and evidence for various outbuildings including cooking sheds and workers' cottages.
More of the phased development of the building was revealed. The project will continue into 2005.
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