Listing Text: EAST PECKHAM 441/0/10013 BRANBRIDGES ROAD 26-APR-10 (East side) FORMER JOINERS WORKSHOP IMMEDIATELY SO UTH OF THE RIVER MEDWAY AT BRANBRIDGES II A former joiners workshop, currently used for storage. Mid C19 with C20 alterations. MATERIALS: Constructed on a deep Kentish ragstone base the ground floor is of brown brick in English bond and the first floor timber framed, clad in weatherboarding, with gabled slate roof. PLAN: Two storeys three bays with central unloading bay. The south bay of the ground floor is partitioned. EXTERIOR: The south western side, which formerly opened directly on to the River Medway, has central double ledged wooden hoist doors on the first floor with a large decorative iron hoist bracket. The end bays on both floors have 16-pane pivoting casements. The south east end has a wide ground floor opening. The northeast landward side has identical ledged hoist doors to the first floor flanked by 16-pane pivoting casements and the ground floor has central wooden double doors and a plank door with wooden architrave to the south. INTERIOR: The ground floor is divided into three bays with two spine beams supported on chamfered posts with chamfered diagonal braces. The southern bay has been divided off by a wooden screen with unglazed top panels with metal divisions. A flight of wooden steps in the south eastern corner leads to the upper floor, the roof of which is divided into five bays with scientific kingpost roof of softwood with purlins and diagonal windbraces. The cast iron hoist wheel survives. HISTORY: From the 1740s onwards Branbridges and East Peckham became a thriving industial area, with cotton, timber for boat building, hops for brewing and fruit being transported along the River Medway. After the coming of the railways the river traffic declined and the Medway Navigation Company closed down in 1909. The building is shown on the 1894 Ordnance Survey map. The northern part of the Branbridges site is inscribed "coal wharf" but nearly opposite to the south west are the words "timber yard". On the 1894 and 1897 maps it is shown with an adjoining section to the north, perhaps a covered timber yard for timber storage. This other building is no longer shown on the 1908 map, but on all these maps a narrow section of the River Medway is shown flowing past the south west of the building, convenient for loading and unloading straight on to boats. This section of the river was later filled-in. REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The former joiners workshop at Brangridges is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a good example of a mid C19 joiners workshop with contemporary carpentry construction. * It survives completely intact with evidence of its original function given by the hoist doors, iron external hoist arm and internal hoist wheel all surviving. * It is an example of a local industry which depended on transporting raw materials and goods down the River Medway, a practice which ceased in 1909. * Industrial buildings by the River Medway are a rare survival.