West Stable Range At Dieu-La-Cres Abbey Farm

The west stable range at Dieu-la-Cres Abbey Farm is a stable building from the early 19th century, incorporating a stone dated 1817 and using stone from the 13th-century Abbey of Dieu l'Acres. The structure is made of coursed and squared stone with slate roofs and stands two storeys high, featuring a four-window range. On the right side, there are three double doors, while the left side has two doors with flanking windows, all set in pointed-arched openings that mimic the stonework of the abbey. The upper windows are similar, and the double doors on the right were inserted into a former window space, which is said to have once been French doors leading to a balcony of a former ballroom. The gable end is richly decorated with fragments from the abbey, including ogee window tracery and pieces of vaulting ribs, arranged symmetrically. The interior has not been inspected. This building is part of a group that includes the byre, barn, and east stable range of Dieu-la-Cres farm, as well as the farmhouse, and it serves as an important example of the reuse of old building stone, arranged with a clear aesthetic purpose, reflecting a type of antiquarianism.