Laundry And Brewhouse And Stables And Coach House Immediately South Of Charlecote Park

Laundry, Brewhouse, Stables and Coach House Immediately South of Charlecote Park

A complex of service buildings comprising laundry, brewhouse, coach house, stables and deer slaughterhouse, dating largely from the 16th century with various later modifications and restoration.

The laundry and brewhouse form an L-plan structure of 16th-century date, though later restored. The walls are of brick laid to English bond with limestone dressings and a high plinth, beneath a steeply pitched old tile roof with an octagonal brick ridge and internal stacks. The south side presents 2 storeys plus an attic, with a 5-window range and 2 cross-gables. To the right are 2 entrances with 4-centred heads and plank doors, flanking 2 round-headed coach entrances of 19th-century date with keystones and paired doors. The windows are double-chamfered mullioned lights of 2, 3 or 8 lights with leaded glazing. The left end has a brewhouse entrance and blocked windows. Lead rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

A single-storey gabled deer slaughterhouse is attached to the east end, featuring a modillioned brick cornice. Its north entrance has a grille to an overlight, and to the south are an entrance and 2-light window.

The stables date to the 16th century with early 19th-century cladding and interior alterations. Brick is laid to Flemish bond with a diaper pattern in vitrified headers, and an old tile roof covers the structure. The building stands 2 storeys high with an 8-window range, a cross-wing and cupola to the left of centre. A moulded stone plinth and first-floor drip course run throughout; the brick parapet is stone-coped. The forward-breaking wing has a coped gable and an elliptical-arched carriageway with moulded responds and arch and groin vault. An oriel window above features 1:2:1-light transomed windows over panels, with the central panel bearing the Lucy Arms, and a pierced parapet copied from the gatehouse. Ground floor to the left of the wing contains 2 coach house entrances and an entrance with a single-chamfered Tudor arch, label mould and fanlight to paired panelled doors, plus a 3-light ovolo-mullioned window with 4/4 sashes to the right. To the right of the wing are 2 similar stable entrances with plank doors and matching windows to the left.

The first floor has 2-light double-chamfered mullioned windows with decorative leaded glazing and returns to the drip course (3 to the left and 4 to the right); the south end features similar 3-light windows. The rear elevation includes a plain arch to the carriageway with a 2-light window above and a small stack; to the left of the wing, 16th-century brick forms the ground floor with 19th-century brick corbelled out above. To the right, some 16th-century diapered brick with an ashlar opening to an 8/8 sash is visible, adjoining an attached loose-box block with a stone-coped parapet over 3 Tudor-headed entrances with overlights to plank doors. A coped gable with finial surmounts this section. An attached brick gate pier with plank gate stands nearby, with 2 loose boxes in a gabled rear range.

Interior features of the brewhouse include mostly 18th-century brewing equipment, water pumps, coppers and stalls. The laundry contains a hearth, coppers and 3 segmental-headed recesses to one wall. The slaughterhouse is fitted with channels to a brick and flag floor and a hoist.

The stables interior includes a full-height tack room with gallery fittings to 3 sides and a bolection-moulded fireplace. The stables to the south have stop-chamfered beams and posts with stable and loose-box partitions. The loft above is supported by wall posts beneath 5 trusses with braced tie beams, collars and struts; that to the north has lath and plaster infill, and one has a plank partition. Double purlins, wind braces and riven rafters are features throughout.

The brewhouse is a particularly interesting survival, complete with its equipment. The deer slaughterhouse is a rare example of its kind.