Mid 19th century timber framed shed, West Shed, and brick-built shed, East shed, 5 Maltings Road, Battlesbridge (EHER 80827)

The site consists of two conjoined permanent buildings. The West Shed is a timber framed building made of machined softwood and raised on a brick plinth to prevent flooding. The East Shed has brick walls and a corrugated asbestos roof and is also raised. They appear to have originally been built between 1838 and 1874 to support the coal and lime merchants business of the Meeson family. Both buildings were rebuilt in the early 20th century and have lost much of their original contexts. Also at the site is a Victorian railway carriage.

July 2020. Heritage assessment. The site consists of two conjoined permanent buildings and is known as the 'Sack Store'. The West Shed is a timber framed building made of machined softwood and raised on a brick plinth to prevent flooding. The East Shed has brick walls and a corrugated asbestos roof and is also raised. Both buildings are shown on an aerial photograph from 1933 albeit with different roofs, and both are early-mid 20th century rebuilds of mid 19th century structures and have been stripped of much of their original fabric. They appear to have originally been built between 1838 and 1874 to support the coal and lime merchants business of the Meeson family. In the 20th and 21st centuries, they have been incrementally surrounded by pre-fabricated buildings and steel containers and have subsequently lost their context. Once a busy port with mills and lime kilns ,the area is now given over to leisure in the form of the Barge Public House and the Antiques Centre. The two sheds and conjoined outbuildings do not contribute positively to the setting. West Shed. The West Shed is a timber framed building clad in late 20th century bandsawn weatherboards. There is a centrally placed pair of late 20th century gate and ledger softwood doors and no windows. The roof is clad with grey slates with terra cotta saddle ridge tiles. The building was refurbished in 2001 by the present owner. The shed is stood up on five brick piers. In common with all the buildings at this site, the West Shed is used to store and display antiques and bric-a-brac. In the 1980s it was set up as the Phoenix Fireplace Store and there are regularly spaced holes cut in the roof for flues for display fireplaces. The walls are clad with hardboard applied by the current owner in 2000. As the building was used as sack store it may have been divided up into hoppers when it was in use for this purpose. The West Shed is shown as twice its length on the 1874 and 1896 OS maps but by 1923 half of the original building had been removed to form an open shelter (shown on the 1933 aerial photograph). A doorway from the West Shed provides access to the East Shed. Other features of note. To the East of the plot is a Victorian railway carriage brought to the site in the 1990s by the present owner who found it in a garden. There are a set of iron railings rescued from a London park and put in place in 2001. <1> January 2025. Google Earth imagery. Google Earth Street View imagery suggests the Victorian railway carriage has been removed. <2>