Bedford House Stables

Bedford House Stables

Racehorse training stables and ancillary buildings, including a water tower, located in Newmarket on Bury Road. The main stable ranges were built circa 1850 for the seventh Duke of Bedford, with later 19th-century ranges added for Captain J.O. Machell, a prominent racehorse manager.

The buildings are constructed of flint with red brick dressings. The ranges facing the main stable yard feature this combination with low-pitched hipped slate roofs. Other ranges employ flint and red brick with gault or red brick dressings, also with low-pitched hipped slate roofs. The water tower is built of red brick with gault brick and stone dressings and has a flat roof.

The plan comprises a main rectangular yard enclosed on three sides by stable ranges, with Bedford House (the trainer's residence) on the fourth side. Behind the north-west range is an outshut with loose boxes flanked by an adjoining range of loose boxes facing north-east, which extends to a further range facing south-east. On the outer north-eastern side of the main yard, a driveway from Bury Road leads to the square water tower at the end of the outer north-east range. On the north-eastern side of the driveway is a range of loose boxes facing north-west, and further north-east another range facing south-west.

The north-west and north-east ranges enclosing the main yard are two storeys tall with lofts in the upper storey. The south-east range is single storey. The north-west range front features stable doors with over-lights and a 6/6 sash window on either side, with various loft doors above. The north-east range is similar in arrangement; the south-east range is single storey throughout.

Internally, whilst the original stalls were converted to caged boxes later in the 19th century, some original caged loose boxes survive as described by Knightley. All retain iron strapping, iron grilles to doors and partitions, and corner mangers. Doorways link the various sets of stables.

Bedford House and Stables were originally part of a small estate that included Bedford Lodge (now Bedford Lodge Hotel), built circa 1820 for the sixth Duke of Bedford as his Newmarket residence. The seventh Duke appears to have built Bedford House and Stables, which are considered noteworthy and were described in Thomas Knightley's Stable Architecture, published in 1862. Following the Duke's death in 1861, the estate was purchased by Sir Joseph Hawley and subsequently sold to the Duke's former trainer, William Butler. Butler demolished Bedford Lodge's original stabling and sold the Lodge to Joe Dawson, who built the main range of stables adjoining it (now Highfield Stables) in 1864. At approximately the same time, Butler sold Bedford House and Stables to Captain J.O. Machell (1837–1902), a former army officer and sportsman who had settled in Newmarket. Machell developed a keen interest in horse racing and substantially improved his fortune through successful betting. He became a figure of considerable importance in the development of horse racing in the second half of the 19th century and served as racing manager to many of the principal racehorse owners of the period. His own horses won the Grand National three times. Machell employed excellent trainers in the yard, most notably Joseph Cannon and J. Jewitt, who successively occupied the enlarged Bedford Cottage. Having also purchased Bedford Lodge and Stables in 1880, Machell retired in 1892, and Bedford House, Bedford Stables, and Bedford Cottage were sold to the racehorse owner and breeder Colonel Henry McCalmont.