Stables At Thirkleby Hall

The stables at Thirkleby Hall, now used as a house and outbuildings, were built in the 1780s and altered in the 20th century. They were likely designed by James and Samuel Wyatt, as was the now-demolished hall itself. The stables are constructed of ashlar and pinkish brick, with a roof of graduated slates and 20th-century imitation slates. They are arranged around a courtyard.

The stables are two storeys and consist of nine bays by seven bays. A central entranceway is topped by a clock tower; the wide end bays slightly project. The original symmetrical design has been altered with bays to the right of the entrance now used as part of the house. The entrance features a full-height round arch with archivolt on imposts, flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature. Later 19th-century cast-iron double gates with spear-finialled bars and a fleury mid-rail are set within the archway. Above the arch is a square-sectioned, rendered clock tower of two stages; the lower stage has a plinth, pilasters, and cornice framing recesses with a clock to the front and blind oculi to the sides. The upper stage has open, round-arched sides, a lead cupola, and an iron weather vane.

The bays flanking the entrance originally had blind openings – a semi-domed niche with a square opening above flanked by tall square-headed openings under oculi, but these now have various 20th-century windows and a porch containing a door. The end bays have round-arched doorways (the left one now with a window and inserted door to the right, the right one replaced by a 20th-century bay window). They have square, six-pane sashes above, with the right bay having a 20th-century window.

The rear elevation has two ground-floor doors and tall windows; first-floor windows are square openings, blind to the outer bays, louvred to the three central bays, and with six-pane sashes elsewhere. Two late 19th-century, white-brick cross ridge stacks are present. The left return features a ground-floor arched recess with an eight-panel door under a blind Diocletian fanlight, with tall blind windows above. The first floor windows match the rear elevation. Brick stacks are also present.

The courtyard elevations are built of pinkish brick in English bond, with stone plinth and first floor band. Round-arched stable doorways are in the side ranges, while the rear range has coach doorways with double board doors. On the first floor are louvred, cambered brick-arched openings, with a boarded hatch with an iron ledge and crane in the centre of the rear range. The entranceway into the stables has a quadripartite vault. Interior ranges were not inspected during a resurvey.