Former Stables at Wadhurst College

Former Stables at Wadhurst College

These stables were built in 1885 by Adolphus Croft, an in-house architect for Gillow and Co. (later Waring and Gillow), for John Bruce. They are designed in the Domestic Revival style and form a group with the main house, known as South Park.

The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond on the ground floor, with some rubbed brick voussoirs. The first floor is tile-hung, except on the east sides where gables feature timber framing. The gabled tiled roofs are topped with terracotta ridge tiles with moulded end finials and tall ribbed brick chimneystacks.

The stables are arranged around three sides of a rectangular courtyard, originally closed off by wooden gates on the fourth side. The south range contained coach houses on the ground floor with living accommodation to the sides and above. The west link block was probably residential, while the north range provided stabling with some accommodation.

The north range features an ornamental square clock turret with a pyramidal lead roof and metal weathervane. The eastern gable end, facing the main house, has carved bargeboards, a copper bell, and a first floor projecting square bay with timber framing and pebbledash infill with ornamental glazing to the transomes. The ground floor displays a high-placed triple window and a large blank rubbed brick tablet. At the south corner, an elaborate wrought iron bracket supports a bell and large lantern of opaque glass.

The south side has a gable and three gabled dormers to the upper floor with mullioned and transomed windows (20th-century replacements within original openings). The ground floor contains a series of openings with cambered rubbed brick voussoirs and keystones, housing sash windows with glazing bars to the upper parts only, alongside doorcases with fanlights and some half-glazed doors. The north side is plainer, with a flight of steps and handrail leading to a casement window linked to a half-glazed door.

The west link block between the north and south ranges has a mullioned and transomed window to the upper floor and cambered eight-paned sash windows to the ground floor.

The east end of the south range, facing the main house, has a gable with carved bargeboards and timber framing with curved braces. Two first floor canted bays with mullioned and transomed windows are supported on large brackets. The ground floor has two cambered-headed sash windows with glazing bars to the upper parts, to the left of which is a curbing stone and curved section of brick walling. The north side features a large tile-hung gable with a penticed and gabled dormer, all with mullioned and transomed wooden casements. The ground floor has two cambered sash windows to the east, though a brick and glazed projection has replaced the range of wooden coach doors and elaborate glazed canopies shown in a late 19th-century photograph. The south side has a projecting gable at the eastern end and a set-back gable with some casement windows visible, though most of this side is now concealed behind a late 20th-century classroom block.

The interior was not inspected and no internal fittings are visible.

John Bruce purchased the estate in the 1870s and commissioned Adolphus Croft to demolish the existing farmhouse and build a new mansion called South Park. The house was newly built in 1885, as confirmed by a photograph taken that year by Bedford Lemere. By 1890 the estate was owned by Arthur Croft (1828–1893 or 1902), an architect and notable painter specialising in mountain scenery, who was Adolphus Croft's brother.

From around 1930, South Park ceased being a private house and became a boarding school for girls called Wadhurst College. The former stables were also used for educational purposes. Wadhurst College was joined by the Legat Ballet School in the 1980s and in the early 1990s was amalgamated with Micklefield School from Seaford, becoming known as Micklefield Wadhurst. In 1997 it became a branch of Bellerbys College.

The exterior survives substantially intact. The stables are designated for their good quality details, including the clock turret with pyramidal lead roof, ornamental corner lamp bracket, gables with projecting bays, and rubbed brick details. They hold group value with the main house, from which they were designed to be seen, and were built by the same architect in a similar style and using comparable building materials.