The Bonded Warehouse

The Stourbridge canal was constructed by Thomas Dadford Jnr. between 1776 and 1779 for £38,000. It was 8 miles long and had 20 locks lifting the summit level 164 feet from the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal where it connected at Stourton. The main line terminated almost in the centre of Stourbridge at a wharf upon which the warehouse was built in 1779. The building was a simple two-storey brick structure approximately 23 feet wide and 70 feet long, with the interesting feature of a semi-circular east end. Bonded Warehouse website

The apsidal east end shows the form of the original eighteenth century building which was raised another storey and extended some 12 feet on the canal wharf side in 1849. The building was carried over the wharf on an open arcade of iron columns, but this space was later enclosed by brickwork about 1900.

The basic structure of the warehouse is very robust and has suffered few dilapidations even after years of neglect. Heavy brick walls 14 and 18 inch thickness are pierced by arched windows with small panes, shutters and bars. On the ground floor the original 23 feet wide building is shown by the remaining longitudinal wall - once an outside wall - and the beams above are supported mid-span by cast iron columns. Upper floors are carried on full width composite 14 inch by 13 inch beams in seven bays of about 8ft 6in centres with very stiff 9in by 2.5in common joints.

On the first floor an almost clear space is produced by a system of regularly spaced iron columns of special fluted design to facilitate planked sub-division of each bay. The second floor is spanned by the heavy queen post roof trusses, this time in five bays, with no intermediate columns.

THE BONDED WAREHOUSE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR ROOM HIRE. FOR INFORMATION AND DETAILS PLEASE PHONE 01384 395216