Albert House Stables Including Boundary Wall

Albert House Stables including Boundary Wall

Five stable ranges and a boundary wall that partly enclose a racehorse training stable yard. The complex dates from the mid to late 18th century and early to mid 19th century, with minor 20th century additions and alterations. The ranges are constructed in red brick, with one range on the north west side incorporating a clunch boundary wall. The roofs are hipped with slate and 20th century red pantile coverings.

The yard is arranged with two ranges on the north west side flanking either side of an entrance gateway, two contiguous ranges on the north east side, and a single range on the south side. The back of Albert House (the former trainer's house on Moulton Road) projects into the south western corner of the yard.

Range 1 occupies the north west side of the yard to the left of the entrance gateway and dates from the early 19th century. It comprises a single storey section with loose boxes on the right and a two-storey section on the left with loose boxes on the ground floor and a loft above. A stable door serves each loose box on the front elevation. The roof was renewed in the late 20th century.

Range 2 is positioned on the north west side to the right of the entrance gateway and dates from the mid 18th century. It is two storeys tall with three cage boxes on either side of a central cross-wall on the ground floor and a hayloft above. The symmetrical front elevation features two ground floor doorways with overlights, each fitted with two vertical glazing bars, flanked on either side by sash windows with glazing bars in a 3 by 4 pane arrangement. All these openings have segmental-arched rubbed brick heads. The loft storey contains three small horizontal sliding sashes with glazing bars in a 4 by 3 pane pattern. An external timber staircase at the north east end provides access to the loft doorway, which has a vertical boarded door. The south west end wall features a central loft doorway with a vertical boarded door. The lower half of the rear wall is constructed in clunch, originally part of the boundary wall to the yard, and contains an inserted cast-iron vent serving each loose box. The upper part of this wall is in brick and includes two loft doorways with vertical boarded doors (one central, one to the right) and to the left a horizontal sliding sash matching those on the front. The roof is hipped with 20th century pantiles.

Internally, Range 2's ground floor contains six 19th century cage boxes with timber partitions between them. Each box front has an iron grille in a sliding door with flanking panels. The hayloft features an open timber roof structure.

Range 3 is located on the east side of the yard to the north and is two storeys tall. The ground floor accommodates three case boxes on the left and a feed room and tack room on the right, with a hay loft on the first floor. The front elevation includes a ground floor doorway with a sash on either side on the left, a central double door with timber lintel flanked by single doors, and a door with a sash to the left on the right side. The first floor has four small horizontal sliding sashes with glazing bars in a 4 by 3 pane pattern, with a loft doorway with vertical boarded door positioned between the first and second sashes to the right.

Range 4 occupies the east side of the yard to the south and is two storeys tall. The ground floor contains five loose boxes and the first floor a staff flat. The front elevation features five stable doors and an external timber staircase providing access to the first floor flat. On the first floor, to the left of the flat's doorway are two horizontal sliding sashes and to the right a similar sash, all with glazing bars in a 4 by 3 pane pattern. The interior of this range was not inspected.

Range 5, dating from the mid 19th century, runs along the south side of the yard and consists of four single-storey units, each with a shallow-pitched slate roof hipped towards the yard. Weather boarded gables at the rear are built off an earlier brick boundary wall. The gables are lit by hopper lights with triangular heads. Internally, these units originally comprised four loose boxes, later altered to form feed and store rooms.

These stable ranges, together with Albert House, are of special importance as they have retained, as a group, the typical character of racehorse training stables in Newmarket during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and represent a rare survival of this type.