Stable court at Nanteos, including attached outbuilding to S

Stable Court at Nanteos, Including Attached Outbuilding to South

A large formal range of lofted coach-houses and single-storey stables arranged around three sides of a cobbled courtyard, built in squared rubble stone with hipped slate roofs and deep bracketed eaves. The layout is symmetrical, with tall two-storey lofted coach-houses at the centre of each side, flanked by single-storey four-bay stable ranges, and a matching single-storey six-bay stable range to the west. The east side features a neo-classical screen wall with a columned central archway and blind temple fronts at the ends of the single-storey ranges.

The north and south sides of the courtyard contain coach-houses with four windows to the upper floors. Four tall round-arched coach entries occupy the ground floor, each with large paired flush-panelled doors and matching panelling to blocked heads above. Stone voussoirs rest on piers with sandstone plinths and plain capitals. The upper storeys have flat-headed window openings with twelve-pane hornless sashes, stone sills and voussoirs, and a raised broad sill band. The wide eaves roofs are supported on paired brackets with cast iron rainwater goods.

The single-storey flanking stables have coped stone parapets with two double bands serving as a minimal cornice—one under the coping and another slightly lower—and feature two doors between two timber cross-windows with very small panes. The window heads are set lower than the door heads. The flush-panelled six-panel doors have small-paned overlights with a thicker centre bar to match the windows. Stone sills and voussoirs frame all openings. The matching west range has two doorways, each with a window on either side, a low roof, and a large timber octagonal louvred cupola topped with a leaded octagonal dome and wrought iron scrolled finial.

The east front is dominated by a centre gate arch with sandstone ashlar dressings styled as a Roman triumphal arch. A moulded ashlar arch springs between pairs of Roman Doric free-standing columns with pilaster responds in the wall behind, the outer responds functioning as angle piers. The columns stand on coursed rubble plinths. A Doric entablature breaks forward over the paired columns, with rubble stone between ashlar triglyphs in the frieze and a deep cornice with mutules. A blocking course surmounts the arch, slightly higher over the centre and formerly ornamented with fine carved figures—a horse over the centre and an eagle each side. The centre feature connects to the wings via low coped coursed stone walls. The wings, formed by the gable-ends of the courtyard north and south ranges, are treated as blind temple fronts; the left one sits on a high coursed rubble stone base due to the slope of the ground. Each wing has three bays with ashlar pilasters—those at the angles treated as angle piers—carrying Doric entablature, cornice, and pediment. Moulded ashlar coping and coursed rubble stone complete the pediments. Three blank openings with stone sills and stone voussoirs occupy each bay between the pilasters.

The external south face of the south coach-house has its ground floor obscured by an added dairy range. The upper floor contains a large stone stack to the left and four openings: the first and third are blank, whilst the others are twelve-pane hornless sashes with slate sills and brick heads under the eaves. The single-storey ranges have close-eaved roofs with some blind openings featuring stone voussoirs and sills. The external west face of the stable range is blank except for a single small square opening at each end. The external north face of the north range displays outside stone stairs to the loft and a large stone chimney to the right.

An outbuilding, probably added in the mid-nineteenth century, adjoins the south side. It is a six-window single-storey range in coursed rubble with a low plinth and hipped slate roof with a large brick ridge stack set to the west. The roof overhangs a veranda on the south side, supported on eight thin cast-iron columns. The west end wall has a veranda entry to the right and, to the left, a four-panel door with overlight with side margins and a sixteen-pane sash with stone sill, both with cambered heads and stone voussoirs. Within the veranda on the south side are six openings: numbers one, two and four are blocked with render, whilst the others are windows formerly fitted with mesh sheet. Two similar openings occupy the east wall, all with stone voussoirs and sills.

The coach-house range to the north contains boarded floors to the upper storey groom's quarters and exposed whitewashed roof timbers featuring king-post and angle-strut tie-beam trusses. The lower range to the north-west includes a tack room with boarded walls, timber pegs and a fireplace with moulded timber surround. The west range retains original stalls with arcaded fronts rising from square timber piers. The outbuilding range is derelict, with plastered walls and ceilings, a fireplace in the west room, and slate flagged floors.