Stables, Mersington House

Stables, Mersington House

This is a substantial Victorian country house dated 1865 with later additions and alterations, graded B for architectural importance. The main house is a 2-storey building with attic, four bays in near U-plan arrangement, designed in gabled Tudor style. It features a single-storey porch recessed to the side and single-storey wings forming a service courtyard at the rear. The construction is coursed and stugged cream sandstone with cream ashlar dressings. The base course is raised, with an architraved string course and corniced eaves. Rusticated quoins frame the openings, which have lugged surrounds to chamfered openings with sandstone mullions and chamfered cills. Blind rectangular niches are centred in the wallhead gables above the first-floor windows, with decorative finials positioned throughout the elevations.

The southeast (entrance) elevation is four bays. A gabled bay slightly advanced to the outer left contains a tripartite window at ground level and a bipartite window at first floor, with a small attic light centred in the finialled gablehead. Bipartite windows at both floors occupy the three bays recessed to the right. A gabled porch recessed to the outer right frames a boarded timber door at centre with decorative iron hinges, a round-arched plate glass fanlight, and a round-arched, roll-moulded surround. A dated panel is centred in the gablehead with a surmounting finial.

The northeast (side) elevation is four bays. A projecting porch off-set to the left of centre has a bipartite window to the front and a blind niche centred in its surmounting gablehead. A slightly advanced gabled bay recessed to the left contains bipartite windows at ground and first floors with a small attic light centred in the finialled gablehead. A three-bay range recessed to the right has a porch obscuring the left bay at ground; a bipartite window is aligned at first floor with bipartite windows in both floors in the remaining bays to the right. A single-storey, two-bay wing adjoins the outer right with narrow windows in both bays.

The northwest (rear) elevation is three bays. A recessed central bay has a single-storey, lean-to projection at ground and a tripartite window at first floor. Gabled bays advanced to left and right have single-storey wings projecting at ground with small attic lights centred in their gableheads and surmounting stacks. Coped sandstone walls and pyramidal-capped, square-plan piers enclose a central courtyard. A single-storey gabled porch is recessed to the outer left.

The southwest (side) elevation is five bays. Two-leaf glazed doors at ground occupy bays to the outer right and penultimate bay to the outer left; bipartite windows fill the remaining bays at both floors. A single-storey, two-bay wing adjoins the outer left with a boarded timber door in the left bay, a three-pane fanlight, and a boarded opening in the right bay.

Windows throughout feature predominantly three-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames. The roof is purple-grey slate with stone-coped skews, moulded skewputts, and iron rainwater goods. Sandstone ashlar ridge and apex stacks with cornices linking square-plan flues are topped with circular cans.

The interior was refurbished in 1998. The hall has a boarded timber floor with timber skirting boards and plain cornices. The main stair is a dogleg design with barley-twist uprights and ball-finialled, square-plan newels, fitted with timber handrails. Ground-floor reception rooms retain some decorative plaster cornices. Various marble, timber, and stone fireplaces are distributed throughout. Timber-panelled doors are fitted throughout, and some openings retain timber-panelled shutters. Service bells remain in place.

A stable block stands to the west. This is a near square-plan, M-gabled structure built in squared and snecked, stugged cream sandstone with tooled sandstone dressings. It features overhanging timber-bracketed eaves and decorative timber bargeboards. Openings have long and short surrounds to stop-chamfered openings with projecting cills.

The southeast (entrance) elevation of the stable block is three bays. A boarded timber door in the bay to the outer left has a two-pane fanlight. A two-leaf, boarded timber carriage door occupies the bay to the right. A gabled bay to the outer right contains a two-leaf, boarded timber carriage door at ground with a boarded opening centred in the gablehead above.

The northeast (side) elevation is four bays with single windows at the centre and in the bay to the outer left; a single window is slightly raised and off-set to the right of centre. A single-storey, lean-to projection adjoins the outer right with a coped and railed wall forming an enclosure to the side.

The northwest (rear) elevation has a narrow opening off-set to the right of centre. The southwest (side) elevation is M-gabled with attic windows centred in the gableheads. Four-pane glazing is used in timber sash and case windows, with rooflights in the roof. The roof is grey slate. A sandstone wallhead stack rises at the northeast. The interior was not viewed in 1998.

Garden walls, boundary walls, quadrant walls, and gatepiers of tooled sandstone partially enclose a walled garden to the southwest of the house. Coped and tooled cream sandstone walls flank entrances to the southwest and northwest, with coursed, square-plan, stop-chamfered piers, corniced piended caps; gates are missing. Squared and snecked, coped and tooled cream sandstone quadrant walls flank the main entrance from the road, with coursed, square-plan, stop-chamfered piers and ball-finialled, corniced caps; gates are missing.

A single-storey, three-bay gate lodge stands to the northwest.