Stable Block Of Aske Hall

This is a stable block, now farm buildings, constructed in 1887 by Thomas Oliver of Newcastle upon Tyne for the third Earl of Zetland. It is built in the Second Empire style and has a quadrangular plan. The building is primarily sandstone with some ashlar facing and Welsh slate roofs, incorporating cast iron details. It stands two storeys high to the front, with 1:5:1:3:1:5:1 bays. The projecting bays 1, 7, 11, and 17 are quoined.

The central five bays of the front elevation form the main entrance. Here, a round-arched carriageway is framed by a Tuscan aedicule incorporating a vermiculated plinth, fluted pilasters, a moulded archivolt, and richly carved foliage on the spandrels. A dentil cornice extends across the side bays, topped with decorative moulded scrolled gates signed by Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, and flanked by windows with glazing bars. The first floor features a tripartite window flanked by single windows, all with cornices. Side wings extend one storey high and comprise five bays apiece. High-level stable ventilators are set within rectangular ashlar surrounds with voluted shoulders, segmental arched lintels, cornices, and fluted brackets. Cyma recta cornices are prominent. The roof is hipped, with ridge stacks flanking the central bay.

Within the inner quadrangle, opposite the main entrance is a two-storey, four-bay block with a single-storey wing projecting forward from the second and third bays. The wing has rusticated quoin strips, a central cross window in an ashlar surround, and a gable treated as a pediment supported on cavetto brackets, displaying a clock by Benson, London in the tympanum. The main block features quoins, round-arched carriageways in the first and fourth bays of the ground floor, and two-light flat-faced mullion windows on the first floor. An eaves band runs consistently. A central eaves stack rises above a hipped roof.

The left and right side ranges both feature a two-storey, four-bay central block with projecting bays containing arched openings and mullion windows. The stable ranges encompassing the remainder of the quadrangle are single-storied, with arched lintels over openings with ashlar surrounds, bracketed sills, voluted shoulders, and ears. Hipped roofs complete these ranges. Inside the quadrangle, the stable block’s construction cost £10,345. It replaced earlier stables designed by John Carr, which were subsequently converted to a chapel and servants' quarters.