Former workshop at former House of Correction. Possibly part of the additions of 1817. (1)
See M3351 for C19 House of Correction.

4.3.1 The Grade II listed north wing of the penitentiary is north-east to south-west aligned though for ease of reference this report refers to the orientation of the long axis as west to east.

4.3.2 Of five bays, the building is brick built, of three storeys with a gable roof of slate in diminishing courses. The south elevation has five windows per floor, the ground and first floor ones being square with stone cills and lintels retaining their holes for former diamond shaped iron mullion bars. The cills are large and rectangular with the central part in front of the window being champhered. Semi-circular windows are used on the second floor, also of stone, and retain their iron glazing bars. Bay 5 has an original ground floor doorway with sandstone jambs and lintel, complete with holes for the iron glazing bars, which is identical in design to that in the east gable. The bricks used measure 9¼ - 9½ inches x 4½ inches x 2¼ -2½ inches and are unevenly fired, a number being vitrified. Of note the bricks are laid with 1 header to 2 stretchers though the second floor is not coursed as regularly as the floors below indicating that this building was heightened during the 1829 alterations mentioned above.

4.3.3 Essentially the north elevation is the same as that of the south though the bricks, despite also measuring 9¼ - 9½ inches 4½ x inches x 2¼ - 2½ inches, are of superior quality. The first floor window of Bay 2 has been converted into a loading door, presumably when the site became a lace factory in 1885. Missing bricks beneath the door suggest that a platform extended from the opening. An inserted central chimney is present behind the parapet built of bricks 9½ inches long and 3 inches thick.

4.3.4 The west gable has two ground floor windows with a central blocked doorway with two first floor windows, the northern one retaining a sash window of 12 lights, and a narrow central window on the second floor. All the openings, including the blocked doorway, have plain stone lintels, jambs and cills unlike those of the elevations. The bricks are handmade and measure 9¼ - 9½ inches x 4½ inches x 2¼ - 2½ inches with those along the north edge being vitrified. The ground floor bricks are laid in stretcher bond and those above in Flemish bond suggesting a partial rebuilding of the gable. As there is no difference between the courses of the second floor and those below it must be concluded that the gable was been rebuilt during, or more likely after, the prison gained a second floor in 1829. There is a sawn off pipe and much blackening above the blocked doorway with a bracket between the first floor windows indicating the presence of a former exhaust pipe for an engine originally located on the ground floor.

4.3.5 The east gable has a large ground floor central modern opening created when the site became a haulage business. The window to the south is of the same design as those on the north and south elevations and the doorway to the north is the same as the doorway in the south elevation. The first floor has two large windows and a central loading door with a brick segmental arch above. The window lintels, jambs and cills are identical to those on the west gable. The bricks measure 9¼ - 9½ inches x 4½ inches x 2¼ - 2½ inches and are laid in Flemish bond. As the first floor openings are clearly original to the build, and the brick work remains consistent throughout the gable, it must be concluded that it was largely rebuilt when the building was converted to a lace factory as it is unlikely that a first floor loading bay would have been required in a prison.

4.3.6 Four ceiling beams create five bays on the ground floor. The ceiling beams are all machine sawn softwood. Each ceiling beam is supported by brick piers. The piers are not tied into the walls of the building, they simply abut them indicating that they were erected after the walls. It is therefore possible that the piers were built to give additional support to the ceiling beams when heavy lace machinery was placed on the floor above. Alternatively, when the building was converted into a factory a new floor, complete with brick piers, could have been inserted. A large proportion of the joists have segments cut from them, possibly for line shafts. The staircase is not in its original position as it blocks one of the windows and truncates the brick pier supporting Ceiling Beam 4. There is a former hole in the ceiling of Bay 5 which could feasibly be the original access into the floor above though its size would suggest that it was more likely a hatch.

The Rainbow Depot, The Burgage, Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
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4.3.7 Machine beds are present on the first floor though there is no evidence for line shafting or belts in the ceiling above to power them. There is however a central hole in the floor possibly for a drive shaft. Extra timber planks in Bays 2 and 5 are probably to support winch mechanisms which formerly extended through the loading doors. All the original cast iron window frames of 20 lights survive. Differences in plaster on the walls indicate the positions of the ten barrel vaulted prison cells. The staircase is present though the steps have been removed. The staircase post dates the prison cells as it clearly extends through the two south-easternmost ones. Replacement timbers in the ceiling of Bay 3 may indicate the original access to the floor above or alternatively a former trap door. In the north wall, in line with Ceiling Beam 2, is an inserted chimney with a hard standing of stone cut into the floor for a stove to rest on with a circular hole in the chimney to take the flue. The bricks used for the chimney are mass produced measuring 9½ inches long x 3 inches thick. The ceiling above is of machine sawn softwood. The ceiling beams fit poorly into their sockets and there are a number of infilled holes in the walls suggestive of where former joists were positioned indicating that the ceiling was unsurprisingly altered when the second storey was added in 1829.

4.3.8 The third storey was added in 1829 though the softwood roof timbers are likely to be those used in the building when it was only two storeys in height. The roof comprises five trusses creating five bays. Four of the trusses are of king post type supporting a plank ridge. Struts extend from the shoulder of the king post to the principal rafters. The purlins are staggered. On the east wall is a further truss comprising four corbels that support a tie beam that carries posts that clasp the purlins with the principal rafters. An empty mortice located in the centre of the tie beam of Truss 5, on the face of the beam, with a corresponding gap in the brickwork behind, and a similar mortice opposite in Truss 4, suggests the presence of a former timber extending between the two tie beams. In the west wall the purlins enter the brickwork with no additional timber supports though there are two horizontal timbers, joined with a face-halved scarf, extending above the window in the west wall. A number of the common rafters are replacements. The ceiling is of laths and plaster. In Bay 3 there is a circular timber structure in the roof, possibly the base for a ventilator. In the southern part of Bay 3 is a bar attached to the struts of Trusses 2 and 3 for a winch that would have been used to raise and lower materials to the floor below through the no longer open trap door beneath. All the windows retain their original cast iron window frames of 30 lights. Of note the north and south walls are poorly tied into the west and east walls again suggesting different construction dates for the elevations and gables.

4.3.9 The north wing has undergone substantial alterations from its construction in 1818 when the ground floor was a work room and the first floor contained the inmates cells. It has had an additional storey added in 1829, possibly to be used as a chapel, and both gable walls substantially rebuilt, probably when it was converted into a lace factory in the late 19th century. Minor alterations such as converting a first floor window into a loading doorway are also likely to date to this period. Internally the floors may have been replaced, or significantly altered to take the weight of lace machines. The stairway positions have been also been moved, again probably when the building became a lace factory. As a lace factory it is likely to have had an engine located on the ground floor that powered machines on the first floor.

The top floor is likely to have been used for storage of raw materials. (2)

Listed buildings slides, (Photograph). SNT2648.

<1> DOE, Listed Building Description (Published document). SNT228.

<2> Trent & Peak Archaeology, 2016, The Rainbow Depot, The Burgage, Southwell, Nottinghamshire: Historic Building Record (Unpublished document). SNT5202.