Railway lineside cabins known as Black Boy Stables

Group of four ancillary buildings for railway staff, early to mid-C19, for the Stockton & Darlington Railway with one added in 1897-1915.

MATERIALS: roughly coursed sandstone rubble, restored Welsh slate roofs.

PLAN: four single-celled buildings: the largest is to the centre with a semi-detached unit to the north-west (building 2) which in turn has a semi-detached unit (building 3) to the rear (north-east). The fourth building (Castle Cabin) is detached, just under 2m to the south-east of the central building. The Black Boy branch line passed on the north-eastern side of the complex, the Surtees Railway branch line passed on the south-western side, the original main line of the Stockton & Darlington Railway passing to the south.

EXTERIOR: Central building: this is a single storey with an attic, being of three bays with a central door flanked by window openings, this facing south-west. The gables are coped. There is an opening to the attic in the south-east gable and a ground floor window to that part of the north-west gable not covered by the smaller, attached building 2. The rear wall (facing the route of the Black Boy branch line) is blind.

Building 2: this has a single-pitched roof that falls from the tall, front (south-west) wall which has the building’s single door and window openings.

Building 3: is a later addition attached to the rear (north-east) of building 2, built on slightly higher ground. It has a double-pitched roof with coped gables to the sides. The only opening is a double width doorway filling the north-east side.

Building 4, Castle Cabin: this has a shallow, mono-pitched roof that falls from its south-east side, this having its doorway which overlooked the original main line of the Stockton & Darlington Railway where it was joined by the two branch lines. The two side walls each have a single window, the south-west wall being curved, cutting back the southern corner of the building.

INTERIOR: the buildings have unplastered walls and block paving floors.