| Philip Rudkin |
|
Can anyone out there tell me what the enormous brick tower was (next to the Railway Station). The coal yards were demolished in May 1983. However, I can remember the tall brick tower being felled, but I cannot remember the date. I have recently been asked what the tower was used for? Was it a grain store? I hope that someone will know. Thanks! Phil Rudkin
|
| John Tyers |
|
Phil, the red brick "tower" was the old Midland Railway grain warehouse, one of the latter's standard architectural designs. When I worked at Harts in Broad Street they rented a couple of floors for incoming seed and fertilizer consignments as well as at the goods warehouse at the old East station. Mr Fletcher's lorries based behind St Martin's Church would collect from the warehouses to deliver to local farms as required. I only remember a small clerical staff at the Midland station to administer affairs. The gentleman in charge whose name I can't recall rode a well turned out Velocette Motorcycle and lived in Priory Road and there was a lady clerk also. At the East station, there was quite a large clerical establishment under the late Mr Bert Joslin who later became a council rent collector when the goods facilities closed at the East station.
|
| John Tyers |
|
Phil, the red brick "tower" was the old Midland Railway grain warehouse, one of the latter's standard architectural designs. When I worked at Harts in Broad Street they rented a couple of floors for incoming seed and fertilizer consignments as well as at the goods warehouse at the old East station. Mr Fletcher's lorries based behind St Martin's Church would collect from the warehouses to deliver to local farms as required. I only remember a small clerical staff at the Midland station to administer affairs. The gentleman in charge whose name I can't recall rode a well turned out Velocette Motorcycle and lived in Priory Road and there was a lady clerk also. At the East station, there was quite a large clerical establishment under the late Mr Bert Joslin who later became a council rent collector when the goods facilities closed at the East station.
|
| Jim Hussey |
|
THE LARGE BRICK BUILDING IN THE STATION YARD BURNED DOWN IN THE LATE SIXTIES. THE FIRE WAS VISIBLE FOR MILES AROUND.
|
| David Farman |
|
Hi Phil, hope you are both ok , I remember the building you are talking about, it was an old grain store and I remember one night it caught fire , I saw a glow in the sky from home which was in Essex road so I followed the glow , it took me down to the old station yard , when I got there the place was full of people watching the fire, you are right by saying it was demolished shortly afterwards but I can’t remember what year it was.
|
| Ian |
|
Hi Philip
I remember it too, it was a red brick grain store similar to a warehouse with a pitched roof and about six stories high I think. During demolition it caught fire think it was in the late sixties
|
| Mike Laughton |
|
Hi Phil,
Yes, the big red brick building was a warehouse and grain store. It covered about six floors and each floor has a big door opening onto the outside.
The building had a big old fashioned crane on the outside which enabled sacks of grain to be hoisted from any floor onto wagons below.
Altthough it was red brick on the outside it was built almost entirely of timber on the inside. (In many ways it resembled a windmill.)
So it should have been no surprise when it caught fire during the mid-sixties and was completely gutted. It was demolished after that.
I dpn't know who built it originally or when it was built but towards the end of its days it was a goods warehouse for British Rail.
The blaze when it was destroyed was one of the biggest fires Stamford had seen. (The other big blaze of the 1960s was the Woodhouse Department Store fire in the High Street.
|
| Roger Partridge |
|
The grain store was demolished in 1968
|
| roger |
|
My photo here might help, I took it in the early1970s
|
