Building MPM2047 - Former Wagon Shed, Fort Cumberland

Restored late-19th century building at Fort Cumberland, known as the Wagon Shed. The shed is a timber-framed structure which was constructed at some point between 1861 and 1886 incorporating an earlier brick wall which forms the rear (south) wall of the building. The brick wall has a number of construction phases, the earliest of which date to the early and mid-19th century and relate to a former walled yard and structures to the north of the Guardhouse. It has been assumed the structure was originally built to house carts or wagons. It was also used as a garage for motor vehicles in the early-20th century. The building was restored in 2000 when many of the original timbers were replaced due their condition. A survey and building recording were carried out in 1999 and 2000 prior to conservation/restoration work taking place. This revealed that the timber-framed structure of the Wagon Shed had been constructed around the late-19th century, with historical sources suggesting a date between 1861 and 1886 when it is first shown on a plan of the fort. The building was a fully hipped structure with six bays, each with a set of externally opening hinged double doors on the north front. The original doors were no longer extant in 1999 but have been replaced as part of the restoration work. The shed had a felted roof and the interior was originally painted white. An earlier brick wall had been used as the rear (south) wall to the shed, with two or three courses of brickwork added to raise the height of the wall when the shed was constructed. The wall had seven phases of construction dating to between the early-19th century and 1940s relating to the use of the land and buildings directly north of the Guardhouse. See the Report on the Survey of the Wagon Shed at Fort Cumberland by David Fellows and John Pidgeon for the full details. The concrete floor is thought to date to the construction of the Wagon Shed in the late-19th century. Timbers or sleepers had been bolted to the floor at the end of the bays along the south wall possibly dating to when the shed was used to house motor vehicles in the early-20th century. These were observed as impressions in the concrete floor set across each bay, the timbers having at some point been removed. Each bay has the name and rank of the driver of the vehicle painted on the back wall. Archaeological investigations were carried out when concrete pads for the door posts at the front of the building were removed during the restoration work. In one of these post holes the brick raft used for footings to support the north-western corner of the shed was observed. Another post hole revealed a short length of brick drain which ran northeast-southwest under the Wagon Shed floor and towards the Motor Transport Shed.