Brickfield Stud

Brickfield Stud comprises a range of stable buildings constructed in 1883, with a detached stable block added to the south-east around 1900.

The stable blocks and walls of the stable yard, together with the long detached stable block to the south-east, are constructed of flint with buff-brick dressings. The stable blocks have slate roofs.

The stable yard is square on plan, with three attached stable ranges to the north-west, north, and east sides of the yard. Etheldreda House is roughly L-shaped on plan and wraps around the south-west corner of the yard, facing west to Exning Road. Etheldreda House is of lesser interest. The yard has gated openings to the centre of its west side and east end of its south side. The detached stable block is long and rectangular on plan, and stands approximately eight metres south-east of the stable yard.

The stable yard is square on plan and has a single-storey range to each of its north-west and east sides, and a two-storey range to its north side. Each range has a hipped slate roof, flint walls, chamfered plinth, and a buff-brick eaves course and dressings. The windows, overlights, and vents to the rear of each stable are all segmental-arched with buff-brick surrounds.

The single-storey north-west range, possibly former groom's accommodation, was converted to a flat in the early 21st century, with blocked window and door openings to the yard elevation, and all windows and doors replaced with uPVC.

The two-storey stable range to the north side of the yard wraps around the north-west corner, with a single bay to the north-west side, and eleven bays to the north side. The central bay of the south (yard) elevation is gabled with a wind vane to its apex. The flint walls have a buff-brick stringcourse over the ground floor. The single bay on the west side of the yard has a ledged and braced timber door to a former feed room, and an overlight with two-pane horizontal sliding sashes. The south elevation has ten stable doors opening to the yard, each with a multi-paned overlight. The four western stables have four-light horizontal sliding sashes, the central two stables have eight-light bottom-hung casements, and the four eastern stables have two-light horizontal sliding sashes. The first floor retains five bays of six-light metal-framed casement windows on the western side, while the four bays on the eastern side were replaced by uPVC in the early 21st century when that part of the first floor was converted to a flat. The central gabled bay has a hayloft door with a protective rail. The rear (north) elevation has a ledged and braced timber door to its west side with an eight-light bottom-hung casement overlight. The first floor retains two hayloft doors with protective rails, and six-light metal-framed casement windows. The first-floor windows and hayloft door on the east side were replaced with uPVC when converted to a flat in the early 21st century. The rear of each stable has a high-level cast-iron ventilated panel in a segmental-arched buff-brick surround.

The single-storey stable range to the east side of the yard has five stable doors to the north side of a former tack room which has a chimneystack over, a stable south of the tack room, and a former cart shed at the south end adapted for use as a large stable. Generally, the stable doors have overlights of two-light horizontal sliding sashes, and three large windows either side of the tack room have 20th-century glazing. To the rear, the east range has a six-over-two sash window on its north end, a fixed four-light window near the north end of the east elevation, and six high-level cast-iron ventilated panels to the stables north of the former tack room. Attached to the south-east corner, a single-storey flint and buff-brick extension with a lean-to slate roof, probably constructed in two phases around 1900, wraps around the south-east corner of the yard. The stable yard has two gated entrances, one from the centre of the west side, and one from the east end of the south side, each with double-leaf six-panel wooden gates. The west entrance is flanked by flint walls with buff-brick dressings and copings, and the gate piers of the south-east entrance have been replaced.

Occupying the south-west corner of the stable yard, Etheldreda House is a four-bay two-storey house, L-shaped on plan, facing west to Exning Road. The house was vastly extended and altered in the mid- and late 20th century and is of lesser interest.

Around eight metres south-east of the stable yard, the detached rectangular-plan stable block built around 1900 stands two storeys high and seventeen bays long with a hipped slate roof. Similar to the two-storey range of the earlier stable yard, the front (west) elevation is constructed of flint with a chamfered plinth, buff-brick eaves course and stringcourse over the ground floor, and buff-brick dressings to segmental-arched stable overlights and first-floor windows. The north, east and south elevations are constructed of buff-brick only, and each stable has a high-level segmental-arched cast-iron ventilated panel to the rear. A single-storey closed porch was added to the north end around 1960, and the north three bays of the ground floor and five bays of the first floor were converted to a flat in the late 20th or early 21st century with uPVC windows. The buff-brick chimneystack over may have been added around 1960. Eleven stables survive, six to the north and five to the south of a central tack room. The tack room has a ledged and braced wooden door and an overlight with four-pane horizontal sliding sashes, flanked by two-light vertical sliding sashes with horns. The glazing of all other overlights and first-floor windows appears to have been replaced in the mid-20th century. A lean-to barn was added to the east side in the late 20th century.

The interiors of the stables remain largely intact, with the exception of the north-west range of the stable yard, possibly former groom accommodation, which was converted to a flat in the early 21st century, and the north three bays of the detached stable block which were converted to a flat in the late 20th or early 21st century. Neither flat was inspected. The surviving stables are all single loose boxes. Those of the north and east ranges of the stable yard open directly into the yard, and those of the detached block open west to a former secondary yard. The floors are generally brick paved with drainage channels. The rear wall of each loose box has ceramic mangers manufactured by Doulton & Co Limited of Lambeth, spanning the width of the loose box over a brick plinth. Over the mangers are three tether rings; those in the detached stable block each have a lion-head boss. Each loose box has a central high-level cast-iron ventilation panel with a sliding timber hatch to the interior. Inside the door of each loose box, the side walls have interconnecting pedestrian doors, allowing easy access between each stable. These doors retain original door furniture, and horizontal wrought-iron bands for reinforcement. Inside each stable door is a recessed gas switch on one side, and a high-level hatch on the other, presumably where a gas lamp was safely stored when not in use. The two central loose boxes of the north range, and several loose boxes in the east range are larger in size, allowing more space for mares and foals. The interior layout at the north end of the east range appears to have been altered around 1900 to provide two larger loose boxes. These have sliding wooden doors with vertical bars to their upper part, a reinforced timber partition between the boxes, and windows for natural light. Within the former tack room of the east range, the fireplace has been blocked. Both the two-storey north range of the stable yard and the detached stable block have a hayloft with king-post roof trusses. The hayloft of the north range is accessed by a wooden stair in the north-west corner, and retains a pulley system to lift hay and straw from the rear. The hayloft of the detached block is accessed by a wooden stair from the central tack room.