Exeter House And Exeter House Stables Including Central Lamp Post

NEWMARKET

TL66SW EXETER ROAD 177-1/0/12 (South side) 30-OCT-06 Exeter House and Exeter House Stables including central lamp post

GV II Racehorse trainer's house and attached training stables, the house facing onto The Water Course. Late C18 and c.1820. Late C19 and mid C20 alterations. Brick, part rendered and all painted. House has eaves cornice and slate roof with coped gables and end stacks; stables have hipped slate roofs with tiled ridges. HOUSE. PLAN: central-staircase plan with rear wing on right. EXTERIOR. 3 storeys. 5-window range of C20 windows in original openings. Large central part-glazed porch with hipped roof is probably C19. 2-storey rear wing has C20 windows and recessed doorway. INTERIOR: dog-leg stair with ramped handrail, slender turned balusters and decorative fret tread ends. Some window shutters survive. STABLES. PLAN: stable ranges with lofts enclosing the south and the west sides of yard at rear of the house. The entry from Exeter Road is through an archway between the end of the rear wing of the house and the north end of the west range of the stables. The south range abuts the northern end of the Covered Ride (q.v.). A structural joint at the junction of the ranges in the outer west wall indicates that the south range is earlier than the west range. EXTERIOR: Both ranges two storeys. On the ground floor of the south range are six stable doors with over-lights. Windows and taking in doors above. On the roof slope are the tops of the ventilation pipes. On the west range are two stable doors with over-lights and high windows with taking-in doors and a window over. In the centre of the stable yard a cast iron gas lamp post with moulded base. Inscribed on the plinth of the post the motto LUCEM EX FUMO DARE. INTERIOR: the original stalls were formed into caged loose boxes in the C19. Several have elaborately turned balustrading between the boxes. The early ventilation system survives in the south range. HISTORY: the establishment was originally Foley House Stables when the former curtilage included Foley House, St Mary's Square. The stables, originally built for Lord Foley, were renamed Exeter House Stables and enlarged c.1820 when acquired by Brownlow Cecil, second Marquess of Exeter. His horses were trained at the stables by a Mr Harlock from 1820 to 1855. From 1857, Baron Meyer de Rothschild's horses were trained at the stables until the Baron acquired Palace House Stables, Palace Street (q.v.). The south range of stables backs onto the Covered Ride (q.v.), built c.1835 for Lord Exeter, and recently re-incorporated into its original establishment.