Queensbury Stables and yard wall

A stable complex and yard wall, most likely commissioned by William Douglas, Lord March (from 1788 Duke of Queensbury) in the mid to late 18th century, with 19th- and early 20th-century alterations.

Construction and Materials

The stables are brick-built with a mixture of pantile and clay tile roof coverings, timber doors, and predominantly timber loose box partitions. The entire stable range is of simple vernacular construction in red brick, painted on the yard side. Currently (2018), the complex is boarded up and in relatively poor condition, with the central stable block standing under felt only, its plain clay tiles having been removed and stored inside.

Layout and Form

The stable range is linear in plan. The mid-18th-century stable block sits approximately central to the yard and, with its mansard roof, stands slightly taller than the ranges on either side.

Central Mid-18th-Century Block

The front elevation facing into the yard comprises eleven bays, each represented by a door or window opening with segmental arched heads. The window heads are set higher than the doors, clearly indicating that two former windows have been cut down to form additional doors during early 20th-century alterations when the whole building, including former stalls, was divided into loose boxes.

Towards the east end of the central block are four loose boxes, each with a two-piece stable door to the west and a window to the east, except the third from the east end which has the window to the west, presumably to allow an external stair to reach the loft door above without compromising a ground-floor door (the stair no longer survives). The stable at the west end of the range has a near-central door and was originally flanked by two windows, but the eastern window has been cut down to create a door. This difference in form indicates where former three-stall accommodation was converted into two loose boxes. The windows and most of the doors are boarded, but the strapped stable doors and window openings are retained behind in most cases. The northern elevation is blind except for a low opening at the west end which appears to have been blocked at an early date; its function is unknown.

Eastern Range

The lower stable range to the east of the central block is single-storey with a clay-tile roof covering, also mid-18th century but originally timber-framed. On the north elevation, a brick plinth built of thin red brick surmounted by a few courses of yellow brick supports the remains of a timber frame. Three posts and the rear wall plate survive, but the sill has been largely cut away to allow for later red-brick infill. The front elevation contains four doorways, each providing access to loose boxes behind. Three stable doors with overlights survive behind boarding. The fourth opening has been widened to allow vehicle access (now boarded over) and a matching opening (now blocked) was made in the rear north wall.

Western Range

The range to the west of the central block dates to the early to mid-19th century. The stables are well-built but simple in design, constructed of red brick with pantile roofs and five stable doors (one off its hinges) with overlights. All openings are boarded up, but strapped timber doors and overlight frames survive behind in most cases.

Western Extremity

Between 1906 and 1927, a former tack room at the western extremity of the yard was refronted and partitioned as two loose boxes. Built of red brick with a pantile roof, the two stable doors are boarded up but appear to survive behind, although access was not possible at the time of the site visit. The north wall of this block is clasped to the existing north-west corner of the adjacent block. The building makes use of the western wall of the yard and the site of a former stable building depicted on maps since 1768.

Yard Wall

The wall survives continuously from the stable range running south-eastwards to the High Street. Built of red brick, the southern half survives to full height with curved capping stones. The height is reduced to a couple of courses in places, but adjacent to the stables it is again at full height.

Interior Features

The doors and facings of the box partitions throughout the entire stable range are of iron-bound timber typical of Newmarket racing stables of around 1900, a feature of the early 20th-century alterations undertaken to the complete stable range. Most communicating doors between the loose boxes are of a sliding design, hung from a track fixed above each opening, also part of the early 20th-century alterations. An extant ceramic feed trough spanning the width of one of the largest loose boxes in the central block, possibly intended for mare and foal, and the few remaining supports for mangers in the corners of other loose boxes appear to be part of the same refurbishment. Many of the external two-part stable doors have rounded or chamfered jambs on the interior to avoid injuring horses passing through.

Several of the floors are of concrete, probably replaced in the mid-20th century, but the floors of the central block are varied: the floor of the yard side of the second box in from the west end and the whole of the easternmost box are of yellow brick, and the third and fourth boxes in from the east end have floors of thinner red or yellow brick laid on edge. These brick surfaces are characteristic of, and therefore thought to date from, the 18th century. The remaining two boxes of the central block have modern concrete floors.

Within the central block, the dividers between boxes are thin timber divisions not reaching to the ceiling. In the three easternmost boxes, clasping posts supporting a spreader beam under the spine beam of the floor above are clearly evident, suggesting the spreader beam replaced a post in the centre of an original partition. An equivalent post is evident in the west divider of the third box from the east, and others may be concealed elsewhere. In the westernmost loose box, the spine beam of the floor above is reinforced by a secondary beam extending across the next two boxes to the east, a reinforcement probably intended to carry storage in the loft above.

Roof Structure of Central Block

Although access to the roof was not possible at the time of the site visit, a building survey report written in 2016 provides a recent and detailed record. The mansard roof structure is very lightly framed; the upper roof is hipped at the west end only. There is no evidence that it has been altered at the east end, suggesting that it originally abutted another building at this end. The roof appears to retain most of its primary timber structure but with extensive later strengthening.

The lower pitches take the form of inclined stud walls with straight bracing rising from wall plates tied back to the substantial floor joists with square-section wrought iron ties on the truss lines. The floor joists are further supported by a spine beam breaking the span. Trusses take the form of collars between plates set on the lower pitch walls, principal rafters rising to a ridge board, and further supported by purlins clasped by high collars. In its primary form, the loft provided clear headroom between floor and collars of the seven trusses. It was entered from a semi-dormered, timber-panelled door in the bay west of centre (now boarded over). Mortices in the collars show that the four bays to the east were divided into two enclosed spaces by closed trusses with doors on the south side, while the three bays to the west were open.

Three tie beams with struts to the upper roof plates have been inserted between the wall plates of the loft, their pattern unrelated to the primary trusses. The westernmost defines the east side of a granary bin, lined to tie beam level with match boarding. The reinforcing beams evident in the boxes below were designed to carry the heavier floor loads above. In the easternmost bay of the loft is a large timber grain hopper with a feed chute into the eastern box below. An iron belt wheel suggests the use of an electric motor (this no longer survives) to drive a feed grinder and raise the feedstuff to the hopper and bin. This is thought to be early 20th century in date.

Eastern Range Interior

In the easternmost stable range, the surviving posts of the former timber frame imply four equal bays, now reflected in four loose boxes (one later adapted as a garage). The exceptionally narrow width of the boxes might suggest that they reflected stalls in the original building. The roof appears to be original, substantially framed in seven narrow bays with A-frame trusses and clasping purlins.

Western Range Interior

In the stable block attached to the west of the central range, full-height brick partitions suggest the range was built as loose boxes, which became usual by around 1820. The block dates from the mid-19th century, although the internal fittings are later. All boxes here are ceiled and the roof space was inaccessible at the time of the site visit. Three of the boxes have finely laid red-brick floors typical of the early to mid-19th century.

Westernmost Pair

The pair of loose boxes at the western end of the range was not accessible at the time of the site visit (2018).