Palace House Stables And Trainers House

Racing stables and a trainer’s house, dating to circa 1857-60 and extended in 1903, built for Baron Meyer Rothschild. The western court and trainer’s house are constructed of buff-coloured brick with red brick dressings. The south and west ranges are of dressed stone and flint with red brick dressings. The eastern court is of red brick with terracotta dressings and slate roofs. The building is arranged around two almost square courtyards; the western court containing the trainer's house on its north side, with an additional eastern court added in 1903. Small detached ancillary stables and a dung-pit immediately east are likely from the 1903 period.

The two-storey trainer’s house has a symmetrical three-bay facade, featuring plate glass sashes, tripartite windows on the ground floor, and a central porch with Tuscan columns and entablature. Single-story ranges around the western court have stable doors with overlights, alongside four-pane sashes. A two-storey range facing the western court features external stone stairs to the left and a carriageway leading to the eastern court. The eastern court’s north range has a gabled centre displaying a tablet dated 1903 and topped by an ogee cupola. The two-storey eastern range has a gabled centre, half-hipped dormers and a segmental carriageway on the right. The south side of the complex is enclosed by a wall. Within the eastern court stands a terracotta fountain shaped like an obelisk with dolphins, set on a pedestal, and an ornate cast-iron lamp standard.

The trainer’s house contains a staircase with a stick balustrade. The stables feature rib-lined and tiled walls, with stoneware troughs and mangers located in the corners.

Historically, the site incorporates the location of James I’s hunting seat and a royal palace built by Charles I, later destroyed during the Commonwealth. Charles II purchased a nearby house in 1661, expanding it which in 1815 was disposed of, and in 1857 Baron Meyer Rothschild bought the site, rebuilt the Palace House Stables and installed a trainer, Joseph Hayhoe, in the trainer’s house in 1860. Palace House served as the English branch of the Rothschild family's seat and Edward VII reportedly frequently visited. In 1989, the trainer’s house was damaged by fire.