Machell Place Stables

Machell Place Stables

Racehorse training stables in Newmarket, formerly known as Chetwynd House Stables. The building is dated 1884 on a tablet and was designed by W.C. Manning in a Northern Renaissance style. It was built by Laurence and Sons of London for Charles (Charlie) Wood, a racehorse trainer and former jockey, at a cost of 6,398 pounds. The stables are situated at the rear of Machell Place on Bury Road, behind the trainer's house. Behind the main yard stands a short range of former stables now used for storage, probably built around 1850 for James (Jem) Robinson, a jockey.

The building is constructed of red brick with moulded terra cotta dressings. The roofs are a combination of hipped, half-hipped, and gabled slate with pierced ceramic ridge tiles, timber stable ventilators with pyramidal caps on the ridges, and panelled brick stacks.

The stables follow a symmetrical layout on a grand scale, organised around a large rectangular yard enclosed by ranges on three sides and open on the fourth side towards the trainer's house. At the centre of the cross range is an imposing gatehouse projecting into the yard. On each side of the gatehouse are seven loose boxes with a loft above. Each of the two flanking ranges contains nine loose boxes and a row of six stalls within the end adjoining the cross range. At the outer end of each flanking range stands a taller block facing onto the yard, containing feed and tack rooms with staff accommodation above. A passage through the gatehouse leads to a narrow service yard at the rear, where the earlier stable range, now storage sheds, is built against the rear boundary wall.

The cross range and cottages are two storeys high, while the flanking ranges are single storey. The symmetrical front of the gatehouse consists of two stages and three bays. The wide central bay is flanked by narrow bays with quadrant corners. On each stage, the bays are defined by applied pilasters with bases and moulded caps supporting deep entablatures. The entablature to the upper stage features a pulvinated frieze. In the lower stage, a doorway with an elliptical arched head contains a pair of vertical boarded and partly glazed doors, with an arched sash in each adjoining bay. The upper stage displays a framed rectangular plaque in the central bay with a horse's head carved in high relief, the date 1884, and the monogram CW. Each side bay features a recessed window in the form of a horseshoe in a moulded frame. Above the upper stage is a Flemish gable faced with scrolls on each side and moulded terra cotta diaper, with pilasters framing a central recessed clock face and supporting an entablature and pediment enclosing a semi-circular arch. A wind vane surmounts the apex.

On the front of the range to each side of the gatehouse, strip pilasters defining each loose box bay are linked by brick dentil bands at first floor level. Each loose box has a doorway with a moulded segmental arched head, a vertical boarded stable door, and a transom-hinged fanlight with glazing bars. The loft storey is set back slightly, with each bay defined by pilasters linked by brick dentil eaves bands. In every second bay is a double casement with glazing bars crowned alternately with a straight or shaped coped gablet. Each flanking range on the front features doorways to loose boxes with stable doors and doorways to each set of stalls, with each doorway flanked by sashes with glazing bars and details similar to the front of the cross range. In the rear wall, each box has a hopper sash with a segmental arched head. The front and rear of each cottage are symmetrical, with offset plinths, brick dentil eaves cornices, and half-hipped roofs. On the front is a central doorway flanked by sashes, with a wide recessed panel between two sashes flanked by narrow recessed panels on the first floor. On the rear, the first floor displays two large recessed blank panels.

Internally, the loose boxes feature internal connecting doors in breeze block partitions lined with vertical boarding protected by hoop iron strapping. The floors are concrete overlaid with brick-on-edge herringbone paving. Full-width slate mangers are fitted throughout, and gas brackets are enclosed in iron cases.

The stables were renamed Machell Place in the late 19th century after being purchased by Captain J.O. Machell, a prominent racehorse owner and manager. These grand and extensive stables form a significant architectural group with the adjoining trainer's house.