Proof House, Purfleet Gunpowder Storage Depot (EHER 82690)

Proof House erected around 1765 to the design of J.G. Montresor as part of the Purfleet Gunpowder Storage Depot. A tall, rectangular brick building which contains a single room, currently open to the roof. Proving may have been observed from galleries which ran along the east and west walls of the building, and for which structural evidence survives. The building is roofed in three bays, and the east bay seems to have accommodated a ventilation cowl which rose above the roof. An inserted floor in the roof no doubt relates to the later use of this building as a store, first for copper hoops and later for barrels. It is now the Purfleet Play Centre.

Information from NRHE At TQ 5491 7859, a surviving building of the Purfleet Board of Ordnance Gunpowder Storage Depot, although its original function is unclear. It was recorded in outline in 1994 by the RCHME during the East Thames Corridor Project. It was built in the mid-1760's but in the mid-19th century was being used to store copper hoops for powder barrels. The core of the building is a cubic structure in brown brick with a slate roof. At first glance it appears two-storied but in fact is probably single-storied, possibly with an internal timber gallery. Tall, central round-headed windows in the northern and southern elevations would have provided a well-illuminated interior. Although a document of the mid-1760's could refer to this building indirectly (`the magazine next the proof house') the design probably indicates an administrative function, probably for the clerks and their supervisor, who documented the movement of supplies to and from the depot. The location adjacent to the magazines and the well-lit environment, would facilitate the keeping of the depot's ledgers. For full details see the archive report. Surveyed onto an OS Superplan digital map plot at 1:1250 <1>. Additional references <2> - <6> It is now Purfleet Play Centre