Stables And Riding School

Stables and Riding School

This stables and riding school complex at Calke Park was built between 1712 and 1716 by William Gilkes of Burton-on-Trent, with the riding school added in the mid to late 18th century. The buildings are constructed of red brick and sandstone ashlar with hipped Welsh slate roofs and plain tile roofs.

The stable block forms four ranges around a courtyard, arranged over two storeys. The construction features a moulded stone plinth, chamfered quoins, and a moulded first floor band linked to the keyblocks of the lower windows. A moulded cornice and coped parapet run along the top.

The south elevation is composed of five-three-five bays. The centre three bays are advanced and pedimented, with a clock face set within the pediment. A central rusticated segmental arch with wedge brick lintels and keystones is flanked by wooden cross windows. Three 2-light casements sit above. The matching ranges on the east and west sides each have a large central bolection moulded doorway with moulded cornice and blind openings painted to resemble paired doors with overlights. These are flanked on either side by two cross windows, with five 2-light windows above. An octagonal cupola with 2-light blind windows and louvred openings crowns the centre. The weather vane is a replacement of 1750 by Robert Bakewell. Four lead downpipes with a boar on the hopper treads descend the facades.

The west elevation contains twelve bays with cross windows at ground floor level and doorways with plain surrounds, wedge brick lintels with keyblocks, and mostly double doors with triangular-headed panels and rectangular overlights. 2-light windows are set above. The east elevation comprises thirteen bays with similar cross windows and doorways featuring keyed moulded surrounds arranged symmetrically. Thirteen 2-light windows above have keyblocks linked to a second floor band. Similar lead downpipes run down this elevation. The rear elevation is plainer, with stone bands and segmental-headed openings.

The interior courtyard elevation features a plain first floor band, moulded cornice, and segmental-headed doors and windows matching the external elevations. Extruded bays occupy the angles on the south side. The interior contains late 18th-century stalls and fireproof construction featuring iron with brick vaults. The east range retains a brewhouse with some of its original machinery.

The riding school is a gabled structure attached to the north-west, its south elevation partly engaged with the stable block. It features a broad segmental arched entrance with impost blocks and rusticated arch, with panelled doors set beneath a pedimented gable. The west elevation is divided into five broad bays by pilaster strips, each containing a 3-light casement window under a splayed wedge brick lintel. The east elevation is blind, with a later two-storey gabled building attached at the south end, featuring a doorway and glazing bar sash under a wedge brick lintel, a 2-light segmental-headed window above, and a gabled bay to the right with a doorway and circular pitching eye. The north elevation contains a blind segmental arch with a Diocletian window above, all set within a blind round arch.