Police Station And Superintendents House Including Stables And Boundary Wall

This is a late 19th-century police station, superintendent's house, stables, and boundary walls, built in 1891 by William Sugden and William Larner Sugden. The buildings are brick with stone dressings and a plain-tiled roof.

The main police station block is two storeys with a six-window front and a central, full-height concave arched recess containing the main entrance. The door is set within a stone architrave featuring the date and building title in the entablature, flanked by pilasters ornamented with Staffordshire knots and feather capitals, topped with the county arms. A round-arched window with circular leaded glazing fills the upper part of the recess. The ground-floor windows have stone architraves and flat lintels, containing 15-pane sashes, while the upper windows are round-arched with 12-pane sashes. Turrets corbel out above the ground floor at each side. There are end wall and central stacks. A moulded stone cornice and string course runs over the ground-floor windows, and stressed stone quoins define the ground floor.

The left-hand wing is recessed, with two 15-pane sash windows on the ground floor and two round-arched windows above. Steps lead to a basement storey, protected by cast-iron area railings. The right-hand wing, originally the sergeant’s house, has a doorway with a canopy porch and overlight. A canted bay window with Ipswich glazing is present, mirrored by a similar window above.

The police station is connected to the superintendent's house to the south via walls and entrance gates leading to a yard. A curved wall flanks the entrance gates, incorporating a round-arched main gate and side entries separated by brick pilasters surmounted by ball finials. There is heavy tooled stone banding and stone copings.

The superintendent’s house is two storeys with a three-window front and an advanced central bay for the entrance. The doorway has a shouldered wood architrave with a bolection moulded cornice. Above the door is a 20-pane sash window, with a moulded cill band and cornice. A tympanum above the window contains low-relief stone carvings of the county arms. The central block culminates in a low tower with a swept parapet and a pyramidal roof. Shallow segmental bow windows with tripartite sashes flank the ground floor, while the first floor features 16-pane sash windows in shallow projecting panels, each topped with steep gables incorporating moulded wood cornices that form pediments. The house has axial and rear stacks, with decorative moulding and tile hanging.

The interior of the buildings was not inspected. The buildings are enclosed in a walled courtyard to the rear, which includes stabling and other ancillary buildings.