4, Water Lane

No. 4 Water Lane is a stable and coachhouse, now used as offices, dating from the late 18th century and altered in the late 20th century. It is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, topped with a hipped roof made of old tiles and Welsh slates, which sits above a corbel band and a dentil header brick cornice.

The building is two storeys tall with irregular window arrangements. There is a plat band at the first-floor level on the south and part of the west elevation. The southwest corner has been truncated due to demolition for the construction of the Hertford Relief Road in 1964.

On the south elevation, the first floor features a half box dormer with paired six-pane sash windows. The east elevation has three half box dormers, with the right one raised higher and fitted with a 20th-century casement window, while a small recessed casement is located to the left of centre. The ground floor includes paired doors on the left under a broad rubbed brick flat arch with a segmental intrados, a recessed six-pane sash window to the left under a wooden lintel, and a half-glazed door with sidelights on the right. Further right, there are a small casement and sash window, and at the far right, a carriage entrance with two tall battened doors featuring pierced cruciform vents and long wrought-iron strap hinges, supported by a reused timber beam lintel.

The interior has not been inspected. Historically, the stables and adjoining cottages were built by the Marquess of Downshire as part of his reconstruction of the Gate House. A building at this location is shown on the Dury and Andrews map of Hertford from 1766, and there is a possibility that it contains earlier structures. This building forms a group with Nos. 6-10 and 12-16.