Former Stable Block To Rheda Mansion

The building is a former stable block that served Rheda Mansion, and has itself sometimes been known as Rheda. It was built in 1887 for Thomas Dixon, a barrister and later High Sheriff of Cumberland. The building is constructed of snecked sandstone ashlar with slate gable-end roofs. It is built in a Cumbrian Baronial-Revival style, incorporating a pele tower. The layout is courtyard-shaped, with an entrance range (including the pele tower) to the west, accommodation to the south, stable buildings and ancillary structures to the north, and other service and storage blocks to the east (which are partially ruinous).

The entrance front features a large gateway with a pedestrian gate to the left, both set under depressed moulded arches within a short curtain wall between the pele tower and the accommodation block. The pele tower projects forward, featuring small two-light windows under flat arches, a curved stair turret, and a corbelled projection at parapet level on the front wall. A corner turret to the rear of the pele overlooks the entrance, all designed in a convincing 16th-century style. The southern accommodation range has two gabled sections, one projecting and one set back, with two- and three-light mullioned windows under flat arches. A small single-story range with a three-light window returns to the north (stable) elevation, which is characterized by varied rooflines, recessions, projections, corbelled kneelers, heavy coping, one- and two-light flat-headed windows, and a large ridge stack. The southern elevation of the accommodation block is also markedly asymmetrical, with two gables (featuring heavy coping and corbelled kneelers) and a corbelled canted oriel.

The courtyard features a similar varied treatment of elevations. The stable block has a central wing with corbelling, two- and three-light windows with transoms, doorways with depressed late-Gothic arches and overlights, and planked doors with strap hinges. The inner elevation of the southern range includes a polygonal wing under a hipped roof with a recessed drinking fountain. Reused 18th-century datestones are found throughout the building. Internally, the stables retain their stalls with turned balusters and ball finials, planked partitions surmounted by iron grilles with ramped rail. The building represents a carefully designed, coherent, and dramatic composition with good detailing; the architect is not known.