Stable Block 200 Metres North Of Chesters

The stable block located 200 metres north of Chesters was built in 1891 by the architect Norman Shaw. It is constructed from tooled snecked stone with ashlar dressings and features red tile roofs, including a lead-domed wooden cupola on the gatehouse. The building is arranged around a square yard, with a central gatehouse on the south side and an open passage at the north end of the west range leading to a smaller walled yard that contains a coach house to the south-west. The design reflects a modified Baroque style.

The stable block is two storeys high and has nine symmetrical bays. The gatehouse front, which is partly covered with creeper, features four wide rusticated pilasters with attached rusticated columns at the ends, framing a rusticated central entrance with a three-centred arch. To the right of the entrance is a ten-panel door in a similar surround. The end pilasters have shaped finials, and the taller pedimented centre is flanked by large swept brackets. This section also has end pilasters with carved ornamentation and two two-light leaded windows. An ornate cupola sits on the ridge, featuring an open balustrade above a clock and a swept dome topped with a tall finial.

The flanking three-bay sections have a plinth, with a string course that breaks forward over paired slit windows and a moulded cornice. The taller end bays have end pilasters and strings above and below triplets of four-pane windows, with two of the windows on the right being blind. These bays also feature a cornice and shaped gables with keyed oeil-de-boeuf windows that have latticed glazing beneath small pediments.

The ranges surrounding the courtyard are primarily single-storey, except for a projecting gabled three-bay centrepiece. The side ranges include loggias with keyed round arches and three four-pane windows above. The rear range has an ogee-headed doorway flanked by four-pane casements. There is a boarded pitching door, which is flanked by slit vents and a four-light window in the gable. The single-storey parts feature ogee-headed doorways, four- and six-pane windows, and round-arched carriage entrances in the northern part of the east range. The walled yard includes a south gateway with banded rusticated piers, and to the left is a gabled coach house with boarded doors under an elliptical arch and a slit window above.