Perimeter wall and former stable blocks at Bodmin Keep

Two former stable blocks (now offices, stores and bookshop) and perimeter wall, probably designed by Frederick William Porter in 1859 for the Cornwall Rangers Militia. The stables were altered in the 1870s, 1881 and later for the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, who were resident until 1962.

The former stable blocks are constructed of coursed and squared local killas stone with local granite dressings. The roofs are covered in 20th-century fibre-cement slates with grey clay ridge tiles, and each stable block has a red-brick chimney stack. Later alterations are mainly in concrete and brick. The perimeter walls are of darker local killas stone.

The two former stable blocks are rectangular in plan, positioned parallel to each other and aligned with the main axial carriageway to The Keep, running north-west to south-east, and continuing the powerfully-defined symmetry across the site.

The former stable blocks are single storey, with principal elevations facing onto the main carriageway to The Keep. Each has a hipped roof covered in 20th-century fibre-cement slates and a truncated central red-brick chimney stack. The 1859 window openings have chamfered granite lintels and slate cills; each doorway has a granite lintel and threshold. Some sash windows are hornless and date to the 1859 construction; others are later 19th-century or mid-20th-century. All windows have external 20th-century steel security bars. A granite drainage channel runs along the ground in front of each former stable block. Rainwater goods are largely cast iron.

The principal elevation of the north-east former stable block comprises two bays of a door and window, with a further blocked opening to the left and an inserted timber door to a mid-20th-century concrete and brick store. The north-east elevation shows evidence of three blocked-in high-level windows to the cells: one opening has granite jambs and cill, the other two brick and concrete. A doorway and two window openings towards the left end have concrete lintels, probably added or altered in the mid-20th-century. At the far end are boarded timber doors to WCs. The south-east elevation is blind.

The principal elevation of the south-west former stable block has two doorways to the right and two windows to the left; the lintel and jambs to the far-left window are 20th-century concrete, as are short ramps to the doorways. The south-east elevation has a 19th-century timber-panelled door and sash window. The south-west elevation has two granite lintels marking blocked-in windows; other window openings on this elevation appear to be later insertions. At the far-right end is a mid-20th-century door and weatherboarding to a WC. The north-west elevation is blind.

The north-east former stable block comprises three identical mid-20th-century temporary-holding cells at the north-west end. Each has an inserted arch-vaulted ceiling, brick partition walls, concrete floor, ventilation grills in the outer wall flanking a blocked-in high-level window, and a timber door reinforced with steel. The corridor outside the cells was created in the mid-20th-century; there is a concave alcove adjacent to the entrance door whose purpose is unknown, but it probably dates to 1859. The remainder of the building has mid- and late-20th-century partitions and is in use as offices. The internal partition wall to the WCs at the south-east corner is late-19th-century.

The south-west former stable block retains its late-19th-century layout. At the north-west end the former guardroom, then mid-20th-century ammunition store (now storage), has brick partition walls to the north-west with one relocated 19th-century timber-panelled door and others of 20th-century date with steel reinforcements. A mid-20th-century suspended galvanised-mesh ceiling is present, and there is a blocked-in fireplace on the south-east wall. The former armourer's store (now storage) has an inserted vaulted ceiling with a hatch. On the north-west wall are various jib walls of unknown purpose, a hearth with a mid-20th-century stove, and a timber workbench which may be mid-20th-century. A door to the south-east is blocked. The former armourer's shop (now bookshop) also has an inserted vaulted ceiling with a hatch. It is accessed through a small lobby to the south-east, adjacent to which is a small room with a rough concrete-slab ceiling, thought to have possibly been a sentry post.

Floors in both buildings are mid-20th-century concrete slab, and walls are plastered and painted. Internal timber doors retain their historic furniture. Some traces of war-issue-colour wall paint survive in the former armourer's store. Some mid-20th-century hand-painted 'No Smoking' signs survive in the cells and former ammunition store, as does a noticeboard in the cells corridor.

The perimeter wall is inverted U-shaped in plan, with rounded corners and an entrance gateway at the north-west end. The gateway opening has granite quoins and dressings, and is surmounted with a steep gable resembling a pediment containing a carved regimental crest with the Cornish (Duchy) coat of arms. Flanking the gateway are ten narrow musket loops at regular intervals, five on each side, with chunky granite dressings. The musket loops have splayed openings on the inside face of the wall. A steel gate was inserted in the entrance arch in the late 20th-century. Either side of the gateway are two slate remembrance plaques: one to US Army soldiers stationed at The Keep and lost in the Second World War, and the other recounting the history of the regiments based at The Keep and Victoria Barracks.

The south-west and north-east walls are continuous, apart from at the south-east end of the north-east perimeter wall where a vehicular access point was inserted in the 1960s; the south-west boundary wall is blockwork of the same date.

The boundary wall attached to the south-east elevation of The Keep is described in the List entry for that building, as it forms part of the historic circulatory route between the former parade ground and The Keep.

A detached L-shaped stone wall to the south-east of the north-east stable block is part of the 19th-century urinals.