The Stables

The Stables

A large stable block at Woodhall Park, built between 1777 and 1782, probably by architect T. Leverton for Sir T. Rumbold. The building was converted to three dwellings, offices and garages in 1857 by D. Braddell for Abel Smith. It stands on the site of a Tudor and Elizabethan house destroyed by fire in 1771.

The structure is constructed of yellow stock brick with stone, timber and cement rendered dressings, beneath a hipped slate roof. It displays neo-classical styling and takes the form of a quadrangular block enclosing a central yard, rising to two storeys.

The principal elevation facing the drive is composed in a 1:3:1:3:1 rhythm, dominated by a central pseudo-Triumphal Arch flanked by slightly projecting end bays. The entrance arch is rendered with rusticated voussoirs and Doric order pilasters that frame empty niches and blank panels. A cornice serves as the impost band to the arch, with rusticated quoins, blind oculi and a modillioned pediment above. Crowning the arch is a large clock tower with a square base and clock faces on two sides; the other two sides have blind panels with rebated and panelled quadrant angles. A cornice steps up segmentally over each face, supporting a domical leaded cupola topped with a golden ball and weathervane. Inside the entrance arch is a groin vault; the sides feature blind openings and twentieth-century two-light casements, with a stone band to the upper lunettes. Flanking the arch, three bays on each side contain twentieth-century glazing bar sashes recessed with gauged brick flat arched heads and stone sills, probably following the lines of original blank openings. A stone plinth and plat band mark the smaller first floor, with margin-glazed two-light casements. A modillion eaves cornice runs along the length of this elevation. Rainwater heads bear the date of conversion. The projecting end bays are detailed with brick quoins and ground floor sashes; that on the left sits within an architrave. Large relieving arches with inserted pseudo-Diocletian windows are prominent features, with ridge stacks rising from the roof line.

The left return, now the garden elevation of the house, is hipped and follows a 1:3:3:3:1 composition with projecting centre and end bays. A central brick arch with rusticated quoins and voussoirs frames flanking niches and stone panels, with oculi in the spandrels and a pediment above. A double flight of steps leads up to inserted French windows set within an architrave and topped by an upper lunette. The flanking bays contain six-over-nine pane sashes and two-light casements as seen on the entrance front. The outer bays feature architraved sashes and pseudo-Diocletian windows.

The right return from the entrance elevation is plainer and leads to the office wing. Its elevation follows a 1:2:3:2:1 pattern without a central arch. The outer bays of the central section project with quoining, niches and panels, while a continuous stone band runs across. A cornice with modillions appears only on the end bays. The projecting end bays display relieving arches, oculi and quoining. Dummy and blind openings with tiny oculi at their heads have been created, along with inserted entrances and two-light casements.

To the rear of the building, a three-bay wing extends toward the house, detailed with quoining and a single-storey twentieth-century tetrastyle loggia.

Within the stable yard, the rear of the entrance elevation shows a keyblocked arch with blind niches and inserted windows, a cornice and pediment. Flanking relieving arches on the ground floor contain twentieth-century openings. The first floor features margin-glazed two-light casements. The rear of the house wing to the right was extended in 1957 to create an asymmetrical elevation, with an entrance marked by a Doric portico and a six-panelled architraved door. Ground floor relieving arches and sashes flank this entrance, with a stone band to the first floor containing oculi and two-light casements.

The inner elevation of the office wing displays a 2:4:2 composition with centre bays projecting slightly. Ground floor relieving arches become depressed at the centre where garage doors are situated, except for two bays to the right. The first floor shows oculi in the outer central bays; elsewhere there are two-light margin-glazed casements. To the rear, a depressed arch over iron gates—surmounted by an eighteenth-century urn—links the house and office wing, with flanking niches and two bays of blind openings to the right set within relieving arches.

A mounting block stands within the yard. A long avenue approaches the entrance arch.