Errol Park Stables

Errol Park Stables, built in 1811 by John Paterson and with a tower extension in 1899 by Johnston and Baxter, is a remarkably complete example of an early 19th-century stable block with a central courtyard and a substantial tower. The stables are of circular plan, built in a classical style, and constructed primarily from droved and stugged ashlar, with squared and snecked rubble and ashlar dressings. The exterior features base and first floor cill courses, an eaves cornice, and a blocking course, along with segmental cart arches and some architraved openings highlighted by voussoirs.

The northwest elevation showcases a slightly projecting three-bay straight centre with a broad cart arch providing access to the inner courtyard, and a window below a pediment featuring a relief-carved crest in the tympanum. A tower projects behind the centre. Regular fenestration is found in the flanking bays. To the right and left, bowed bays feature further openings on both floors, including a door with a deep bipartite fanlight and two high-level horizontal openings at first floor level. The northeast elevation is similar, with a centered door and blind pediment. The southwest elevation presents three straight bays with a central pediment and a variety of openings. The southeast elevation mirrors the centre bays of the northwest elevation, but also incorporates a blind pediment, ancillary buildings to the left, and a small flat-roofed extension in the re-entrant angle, adjoining the bowed bays.

The tower is constructed in three stages. The square first stage has a round-headed niche on each elevation, with the southeast niche containing a glazed cross. A band course transitions to an octagonal second stage, featuring alternating stone clock faces below a bracketed cornice, and round-headed openings (now blocked?) with timber and glass, surmounted by louvers. A cornice marks the transition to the later, also octagonal, third stage, which features a blind arcade, a cornice, and a stone balustrade.

The inner courtyard is paved with concentric circles of stone setts, and the faces are bowed. Three cart arches are present on the southeast elevation, mirrored on the northwest, though partially obscured by a later, possibly early 20th century, timber and glass ancillary building extending across the northwest elevation. The courtyard has a variety of unaltered doors with glazed fanlights, window openings at ground level, a regular band of small square openings at first floor, and tiny triangular roof ventilators. Windows throughout the stable block are predominantly timber sash and case, with eight panes on the ground floor and lying-pane glazing at first floor. Courtyard elevations feature six-pane top-hopper glazing. The roof is covered in grey slates, with ashlar-coped skews. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative fixings are also present.