Range Of Stabling West Of Number 25

Range of Stabling West of Number 25

A row of former stabling and coach houses, now converted into garages with a former school changing room at one end and a converted flat at the other, plus storage space above. Built in the early 19th century, probably after 1814 and within the period 1790 to 1830, the building is constructed of red brick with a pantile roof. It stands two storeys high and is divided into five sections by gable walls.

The front elevation originally featured an alternating arrangement of narrow stable doors and wider coach house doors. This original pattern survives most clearly in the section now used as a former changing room, where a single stable door entrance (now blocked and fitted with a window) remains with windows either side. The 20th-century conversion to garages has significantly altered the building's appearance, as the original single doorways were widened into double doors to accommodate vehicles. The front now presents 10 double-leaf doors to the former stables and coach houses, plus one blocked opening to the left, 6 casement windows at ground floor, and 4 further casement windows to the left. At first-floor level there are 13 casements or boarded loft doors. Single-storey bays at each end also contain double-leaf doors. Three chimney stacks on the right were inserted later. The rear elevation shows 5 original doorways, of which 3 are blocked, along with a 20th-century open verandah extension at first-floor level and other small openings.

The interior reveals important evidence of the original stable arrangement. The garage space of number 10 best preserves these features, retaining hay racks on the right-hand wall set into brick-indented roundels with remains of wooden panelling below. Signs survive showing where the dividing walls of the stalls abutted the panelling, and the floor contains impressions indicating where posts for the dividing panels stood. A dip or gulley runs through the paviours along the line of where the stall doors would have been, originally designed to drain liquid towards the rear. Other garages retain fewer interior features, though one contains an inserted fireplace in what was a tack room, and matchboard panelling survives in another tack room and in a coach house, both dating from later in the 19th century. No stall dividers survive anywhere. The roof structure comprises principal rafters with collars and two tiers of butt purlins.

The building was constructed by the Dean and Chapter of Norwich Cathedral to provide facilities for those residing in the Cathedral Close. It originally consisted of several sets of rooms: most contained one coach house, a stable for three horses, and a tack room with a ladder to a hay loft above. Two larger sets each had two coach houses, stables for six horses, and tack rooms. The stable rooms were divided by wooden partitions into three stalls set at right angles to the front, opening into a passage that ran from front to back of the building.

A section at the eastern end was demolished, probably in the 19th century, reducing the original length of the row. Two single-storey outbuildings were subsequently added to the ends. The 20th-century conversion to garages represents the most significant change to the building since its truncation, as the widening of doorways and removal of stalls have substantially altered its original character. Despite these alterations, the row survives sufficiently intact and forms part of a significant group of historic buildings around Norwich Cathedral.