The Former Stables of Stanmer House

The former stables, dating circa 1725, are located within Stanmer Park, Brighton. The building originally formed three sides of a courtyard, featuring a low tower positioned over the carriage entrance. The structure has undergone substantial alterations, including the refacing of inner walls with yellow brick and raising of outer walls in red brick.

The inner sides are constructed of yellow brick laid in Flemish bond, likely dating from the early 19th century. The outer walls consist of coursed flints with red brick dressings, except for the north-west front, which has been raised in red brick laid in English bond. A late 19th-century wing was added to the western corner, built of flint with brick dressings. The roofs are slate, using Lakeland slate for the tower and Welsh and asbestos slate elsewhere.

The outer side features a rebuilt round-arched carriage entrance in yellow brick, with remnants of a red-brick soldier arch above. This is flanked by flat-arched windows, with three segmental-arched windows above, all topped by a brick dentil cornice. The tower’s pyramidal roof is now without its finial. Small, louvred openings are present in the wings, along with one segmental-arched window at the western end and two loft doors breaking through the eaves under hipped roofs.

On the inner side, the carriage entrance is distinguished by a keystone marked with the Pelham buckle. The ground-floor openings are a mix of lunette windows and round- and segmental-arched entrances, some now altered. Segmental-arched carriage entrances were originally present at the ends of the wings, though both have been altered; the eastern one is now blocked. A storey band is visible, and the upper windows of the tower are flat-arched. The parapet of the side wings is interrupted by flat-arched dormer windows.