Stable Court At Four Ashes Hall

Stable Court, built in the mid to late 18th century, forms part of Four Ashes Hall’s farm outbuildings and incorporates later 20th-century alterations. The red brick construction sits on a shallow ashlar plinth with gauged brick detailing and ashlar dressings, featuring moulded eaves, a parapet cornice, coped gables, and both plain tile and Welsh slate roof coverings. Designed as a courtyard plan, the stable front was intended to be a key architectural feature within the same view as Four Ashes Hall.

The south-east elevation is two storeys high, spanning eleven bays. The central seven bays are flanked by advanced two-bay ends with hipped roofs and shallow parapets; the roof structure to the left end is partially collapsed. A wide, semi-circular arched entry leads to the flanking stables and a central harness room, accessed via a recessed doorway. The arch is constructed with gauged brickwork, featuring an ashlar impost band and a keyblock. Above the cornice band is a low, gabled front that supports a cross roof with an octagonal lantern, topped with a lead-covered dome and semi-circular headed lights. Flanking the entrance are three-bay blind arcades with semi-circular windows having intersecting glazing bars. Above these are rectangular windows with intersecting bars, set beneath gauged brick wedge lintels. The advanced ends feature two ground-floor arches and two first-floor windows. Inner cheek walls incorporate two first-floor windows above inserted 20th-century garage doors.

The north-east range includes a blocked, tall, segmental-arched double doorway on its left end. To the right are four lower arched cart doorways with boarded doors, a taller arched doorway providing access to a courtyard entry passage, two tiers of circular, openwork brick vents (three vents per tier), and a third tall doorway serving a threshing bay with boarded doors and a threshold. Further tiers of vents are present, culminating in a gable with two tiers of vents and diamond vents at the apex. The north-west wall showcases tiered vents and a single double doorway. A single-storey range is present on the south-west elevation, extending to a two-storey range to the right. Internal features echo those of the courtyard’s inner walls. An arcaded single-storey hovel is situated on the south-west side, extending partially along the north-east range.

Interiors retain unaltered stalls in the stable range, boarded doors and thresholds within the threshing bay, and roof trusses employing single and double purlin construction on opposing slopes, featuring queen posts, collar and tie beams, diagonal braces, and substantial scantling. The building represents an ambitious and well-executed design, integrating stabling and farm building functions.