Stables, Rosetta House

Stables, Rosetta House

This is a substantial castellated stable block built around 1807 for Thomas Young of Rosetta. It forms a square-plan courtyard building of single to one-and-a-half storeys with three higher angle towers positioned at the corners. Access to the complex is gained through a pend (vaulted passage) in the south wall.

The building is constructed in random whinstone rubble with rubble voussoirs to the windows and carriage pend. A string course runs at ground floor level, with a plain eaves course supported on small square corbels that carry the crenellated parapets.

The principal south elevation features a plain rubble wall at its centre with a segmental-arched carriage pend to the left, topped with crenelles. To the right stands a two-storey, single-bay crenellated angle tower. Its ground floor formerly had a lancet window which has been altered to form an entrance door with a blind arched fanlight. The first floor displays a hoodmoulded central window with blind quatrefoil windows flanking the sill, and three oculi positioned above. To the left rises a one-and-a-half-storey, three-bay crenellated angle tower with wide blind arrowslit windows to the outer bays and a raised small window to the centre. Its half storey contains blind cruciform windows to the outer bays with a blind oeil-de-boeuf to the centre. A lean-to end of the west range adjoins to the left return, featuring a two-leaf arched door within a pend.

The east elevation is nearly symmetrical, with a central range dominated by a large arched window (now blind) breaking through the crenelles and rising to form a low rectangular pediment. To the upper floor flanks are paired lancets with a quatrefoil window between, all beneath a crenellated parapet. The ground floor has a window to the far left abutting the angle tower and a central window to the right. Two-storey crenellated angle towers flank the central range. The left tower has a single hoodmoulded window to the first floor, while the right tower features high paired lancets separated by a hoodmoulded blind window at half-storey height, with paired cruciform lights (now blind) to the upper storey beneath the crenellated parapet.

The north elevation is single storey with two lancet windows to the left and a door at the centre with paired eaves windows to its left. A projecting angle block to the right contains an outside stair leading to a hayloft entrance door, with a telephone kiosk beneath. A single window appears in the left return, matched by a similar window in the left return, and to the right is a semi-glazed door with flanking lights within a rectangular pend.

The west elevation is one-and-a-half storeys with projecting ends of the north and south ranges to the far left and right. A door sits in the left re-entrant angle with a window at the centre. To the right is a single-storey flat-roofed extension in the re-entrant angle with an outside stone stair to the left leading to the hayloft door. Louvred ventilators line the roofline, one of which bears a wrought-iron weathervane in the shape of a greyhound.

The courtyard elevations show an entrance in the castellated facade with three ranges forming an adjoined U-plan. The one-and-a-half-storey west range features a door with a small window to its right, a similar window above at eaves level, a later large window and door adjacent to the right, and a wall post box inserted almost to the centre. The extreme right has a two-leaf timber boarded door within a later enlarged surround. The one-and-a-half-storey north range formerly contained four segmental-headed cart pends; the fourth is now infilled with a much later timber door, while pends two and three have been infilled with timber and glazed upper portions. The first pend remains open. To the half storey are four horizontal eaves lights aligned with the piers of the arches, with a gable to the right adjoining the facade wall of the northeast angle tower. The single-storey lean-to east range sits between the northeast and southeast angle towers and is fairly symmetrical with a central door contained within a slightly raised bay with a catslide roof. Doors appear to the extreme left and right, with a single window placed to the right of the central door block. To the right of this elevation stands the crenellated angle tower with an integral water tank and stone steps leading to a wooden door at half-storey level. The south range has a plain wall with a heavy blocking course beneath the crenelles and a segmental-headed entrance near the west range.

The building retains some twelve and nine-pane sash and case windows to the southeast corner tower, while the remainder of the stables feature mostly blind lancet, quatrefoil and cruciform windows. Later various plate glass glazing has been introduced to the inner courtyard, and later roof lights appear to the north and west elevations. Some early two-pane cast-iron Carron lights survive in places. The roof is pitched and piended in grey slate with louvred ventilators surviving at the roofline. Cast-iron rainwater goods are painted.

The interior comprises stone-walled stables and haylofts that have been refurbished to provide a bar, kitchens and entertainment venues for a holiday park. A cast-iron water tank survives to the upper level of the southeast angle tower.