Stable Block To Leighton House

The stable block was built sometime between 1842 and 1886, with further alterations in the late 19th century and the early and later 20th centuries. The architect is not known, although the belfry was likely added by Frank Wills. It is constructed of limestone ashlar with hipped slate roofs and two stone ridge stacks to the central range. The building forms three sides of a quadrangle, with the central coach-house range facing south-west into the courtyard, completed by surrounding walls and gate piers.

The principal, five-bay range is two storeys high, featuring a string course. The central bay projects slightly, topped with a bracketed gable containing a clock in a round stone frame. This bay also has a round-headed carriage arch rising through both storeys, with rusticated piers beneath the imposts. Segmental-headed openings frame rectangular sash windows on the first floor to either side of the arch. In the late 19th century, the carriage arch was partially blocked, creating a stone tympanum displaying the Laverton arms - three six-pointed mullets with five garbs in the first quarter, with the motto ‘Basis virtutum constantia’. Above the arch sits a late-19th-century belfry, a miniature replica of the aedicule it surmounts, housing a bell. A glass lean-to roof, probably dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, runs above the ground floor. The arched openings are now blocked and contain timber mullioned casement windows; a door has been incorporated into the central archway, a change likely made in the 1920s. The two flanking single-storey wings are slightly lower than the central range, each with four tall sash windows, featuring moveable hopper sections above. A low doorway is located at each end of the wings. The rear of the principal range has sash windows to both ground and first floors, with a fire door inserted into one first-floor window for fire-escape access. A small lean-to extension is present at the north-west end. The rear elevations of the flanking wings have similar windows to those on the inner elevations. The coped walls forming the south-west portion of the quadrangle are ramped at either end, the piers featuring stone brackets supporting the cornice.

Internally, the building has undergone substantial alteration and retains few original features. The ground floor of the central, former coach-house range has been subdivided, probably in the 1920s, with the insertion of a timber partition and passageway. The interior of the north-west wing, accessed from the principal range by a wide, panelled door, is open and stripped of any stabling features, with a false ceiling installed. The first floor, accessible by stairs at either end of the central range, is less altered, retaining some original joinery including window surrounds and panelled doorcases.

Subsidiary features include surviving cobbles in front of the two projecting wings; the central approach is now asphalted.