And Entrance Piers At Shore, Service Drive Walls And Chute, Gazebo And Battlements, Including Old Stables, Gazebo Court, Coach House, Guard House, Including Main Stable Block, Stable Court, Culzean Castle Estate

A complex of service and ancillary buildings associated with Culzean Castle, situated on a clifftop site to the east of the castle. The group comprises a main stable block, coach house, guard house, gazebo, old stables, service drive walls, entrance piers and battlements, arranged around two courtyards. The buildings date from the mid-18th century onwards, incorporating earlier structures, with alterations and reconstruction continuing into the 21st century. They are designed in castellated classical style and constructed in coursed rubble, square snecked rubble and ashlar, with granite setts to the western courtyard.

The main stable block dates from circa 1750 with embellishments added by Robert Adam around 1785. It is a 1–4 storey structure arranged in a C-plan around an inner courtyard known as Clock Tower Court. The western entrance elevation features a central arched pend entrance through the base of a central square-plan four-stage clock tower, flanked by single-storey two-bay wings and 2-storey single-bay end pavilions with arched windows at lower level. These are terminated by narrow 3-storey cylindrical towers. The central tower contains a Serlian window above the entrance and a Diocletian window at the second floor. The top storey is blind with dummy arrow slits and a gilded black clock dial, surmounted by a crenellated parapet above a machicolated cornice. Pepperpot turrets occupy the corners of the clock tower. The eastern courtyard elevation features an arched central entrance flanked by single-storey three-bay wings with central doors and dormer windows above. The northern range on its external elevation is integral to the battlemented wall, while the southern range displays 2–4 storeys declining to the east, with five bays terminated by cylindrical towers with battered bases. An arcade of five stable entrances runs along the ground floor, with 12-pane windows at first floor level, including dummy windows in the three right-hand bays. The crenellated parapet steps up one storey for the two right-hand bays. Three windows occupy the second floor to the left. The windows throughout are multi-paned timber sash and case, and some original shadow-panelled double-leaf timber external doors survive, with vertically boarded double-leaf timber stable doors to the south. The roofs are covered in grey slate. A ground-floor interior refurbishment to form a shop in the central range was undertaken by ARP Lorimer Architects between 2000 and 2001. The interior, as seen in 2010, shows former tack rooms in the clock tower converted to offices with new partitions but retaining some 19th-century panelled doors and fittings. Stone stairs lead to the first floor with original timber stairs to the upper level. A 19th-century clock movement is housed in the loft. Barrel-vaulted chambers occupy the lower level to the south. Other interiors of the main stable block now serve as residential accommodation in Stables Cottage and Royal Artillery Cottage to the north and west, and WVS Cottage to the south. These contain 20th-century fixtures and fittings with some retained 19th-century panelled doors. WVS Cottage retains its original timber staircase.

The guard house is possibly of 16th–17th-century date but was recast in the early 19th century. It is a single-storey, windowless, semi-circular plan structure originally serving as a garderobe, later as staff lavatory, and currently as a store. It is constructed in coursed rubble with a crenellated and machicolated parapet and flat buttresses. It is integral to the battlements on the north-east side of the stable courtyard. A doorway and niche with shallow stone trough occupy the flat western wall, and two gun loops open to the south-east. A chute opening faces north. The roof is a shallow mono-pitch covered in slate.

The coach house was designed by Robert McLachlan in 1807. It is a single-storey, three-bay rectangular-plan, astylar classical block constructed in droved ashlar and square snecked rubble. It sits on the east of the courtyard with entrance to the west. The western front elevation consists of a three-bay arcaded ashlar façade with two concertina coach doors of vertically boarded timber flanking a central stepped arched doorway set in a pilastered doorcase. Panelled timber double doors with a fanlight occupy the doorcase, and lancet windows are set into its pilasters. The eastern elevation features a central bay with stepped pilasters carrying machicolation at their capitals. Each of the three bays has a 12-pane window with an arched niche above the central window. Dummy bartizans sit on the corners of the parapets. The north and south elevations are blank. Coach door apertures are now filled with full-height metal-framed glazing panels. The eastern elevation retains 12-pane timber sash and case windows. The roof is covered in grey slates. The building has been converted to a shop, and the interior seen in 2010 displayed late 20th-century timber shop fittings with a flagstone floor.

The gazebo court is a sunken triangular courtyard enclosed by a crenellated wall with cylindrical gate piers at the entrance on the west.

The old stables form a single-storey, windowless, rectangular-plan vernacular stable building with a piended roof, now serving as a cafeteria. It is constructed in squared and snecked rubble with droved ashlar dressings and sits on the south side of the courtyard. Doorways pierce the northern elevation to right and left, and the western elevation to the right. The southern and eastern elevations are blank. Panelled double timber doors provide access. The roof is covered in grey slates with skylights. The interior, as seen in 2010, has been refurbished plainly with exposed timber rafters and sarking braced with metal. Vertically boarded pine tongue-and-groove panelling lines the walls. Glazed internal doors provide access, and 19th-century iron-framed horse stall dividers with ball finials and horizontal pine boarding remain in place. Timber-lined stud partitions enclose conveniences on the eastern side. The floor is laid with irregular old flagstones.

The gazebo is possibly of 17th-century date but was recast around 1785, probably by Robert Adam. It is a single-storey, three-bay, irregular curved-plan castellated gazebo with a piended roof, integral to the battlements on the north, south and east. It originally served as a slaughterhouse, later as a viewing gazebo, and now functions as an annexe to the cafeteria. It is constructed in coursed rubble with droved ashlar dressings. The western elevation features a central door flanked by small windows. The eastern elevation has three windows set into its curved wall overlooking the sea. Multi-pane windows in timber sash and case, glazed double timber doors and grey slate roof were all reinstated in 1997. The interior, as seen in 2010, displays pine tongue-and-groove panelling to the walls, applied in 1997, with stone flags to the floor.

The service drive walls and chute date from circa 1785 and are attributed to Robert Adam. They extend from plain cylindrical piers at the entrance to the gazebo court behind the eastern stable courtyard and follow a descending serpentine route to the shore. Constructed in squared rubble and droved ashlar, they feature irregular crenellation with niches, apertures and buttresses, finished with slab coping. A square-plan rubbish chute extends from the rear of the stables to the lower embankment, equipped with a steel door at its foot. The drive terminates at the shore with a pair of gate piers modelled as pepperpot turrets, each circular in plan with a moulded cornice, crenellated parapet and conical cap crowned with a ball finial.

The battlements date from the 18th century, incorporating earlier structures. They form an irregularly crenellated and stepped wall around the edge of the promontory, integral to the guard house, gazebo and northern range of the main stable block. They are constructed in rubble with slab coping.

The entrance piers date from the 18th century. They are cylindrical in form, constructed in ashlar with flat circular coping, and carry no gates.