Stables To Batsford Park, Batsford Estate

The stables at Batsford Park, located on the Batsford Estate, were built in 1878 and designed by Sir Ernest George for John Freeman-Mitford. They are constructed from snecked, rock-faced limestone and feature a concrete tile roof with limestone gable coping. The building has a square plan with a central square courtyard and an almost symmetrical two-storey facade.

The facade has a window arrangement of 2:2:1:2:2, with principal gables that project from the far right and left. At the center, there is a bell and clock tower over a rusticated round-arched entrance, which is adorned with decorative wrought iron gates. The rustication extends to the left of the tower around a segmental-headed door.

The tower features a square, decorated wooden bell lantern topped with an ogee-curved pyramidal leaded roof and a weathervane shaped like a boar's head. The gable housing the clock is elaborately shaped, with a finial at the apex and an eaves parapet. Below the clock, there is a three-light stone-mullioned casement with stilted arched heads and geometric glazing, flanked by pilasters decorated with Tudor roses. A canted four-light oriel window is located below this.

On either side of the bell and clock tower, there are two two-light stone-mullioned dormers with roundels inscribed with "FM" for Freeman-Mitford. The principal gables also feature single bulls-eye windows with keystones and decorated surrounds. The ground and first floors have single and two-light stone-mullioned casements with transoms. A canted four-light bay window is positioned far left, with a segmental-headed single doorway to the right.

The building is topped with three and four flue axial stacks that have moulded caps, including a stack from the left side of the bell and clock tower. Inside the courtyard, there are three mock timber-framed gables supported by two round columns opposite the entrance. This structure is a highly decorated and unusually complete example of its kind.