Building record 5410 - Old Coal Masters Building, Station Road, Chelford

<1> Cheshire East Council, 2010, Cheshire East LDF Local List of Historic Buildings (Report). SCH5404.

The Old Coal Masters building, Station Road, Chelford, SK11: A substantial stone built coal drop, rectangular plan, single storey. The origins are thought to be similar to the station, which opened in 1842.

<2> University of Salford (Centre for Applied Archaeology), 2018, Historic Building Investigation: The Old Coal Masters Building, Chelford, Cheshire, R4221 (Client Report). SCH8550.

An historic building investigation (Historic England Level II) was undertaken in 2018 for the 'Old Coal Masters Building', Chelford, in advance of proposed redevelopment of land at the Chelford Agricultural Centre (centred NGR 381400 375000).

The Coal Masters Building, formed part of a coal yard, built adjacent to Chelford Railway Station, during the construction of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, which opened in 1842. The Ordnance Survey map of 1872 depicts the structure, placed at the access point from Knutsford Road, and likely serving as an entrance lodge for the coal yard, controlling the movement of coal between the rail and road networks. Although disused, and in a relatively poor state of preservation, the building represented a good visual example of early railway architecture, and an increasingly rare survival of a small ancillary building associated with the early Victorian railway network, also reflecting the emergence of Victorian ‘railway architecture’, having greater architectural detailing than a building of such status would typically merit at this time.