Description

TQ 53 NW SPELDHURST FORDCOMBE ROAD (off), ASHURST
PARK
7/479 Lake Cottage

GV II

Stable block to Fernchase Manor (q.v.) formerly known as Ashurst Park. The
stables have been partly converted to housing. 1867 (dated on bell); modest
C20 conversion. Flemish bond brick with a chamfered stone plinth and
sandstone ashlar dressings; red tile roofs; brick stacks.

Plan: South west facing. Symmetrically-arranged with a coach house in the
centre and front left and right projecting stable wings forming a courtyard
completed by a brick wall. The coach house has a rear centre wing.

Exterior: Single-storey stable blocks, coach house with an attic, surmounted
by clock tower and cupola. Gabled roofs with coped gables with kneeler. 5-
bay front elevation to the coach house which has a stone parapet and, in the
centre, a gable containing a round-headed loft loading door, partly panelled
and partly glazed, with a keyblock. A stone band across the front rises as a
hoodmould over the doorways and windows. 3 segmental-headed coach house doors
with keyblocks and original paired plank doors. The outer bays each have a
pair of 2-light casement windows. Behind the coach house the clock tower has
a clock face in a decorated frame, the cupola above with a lead roof and a
wrought iron weathervane. The stable blocks have apex finials and shaped
bargeboards to the gable ends which have stone quoins and round-headed
windows. Stone bands rise as the hoodmoulds to the windows which have
keyblocks and have been divided by brick lintels to the C20 casements with
glazing bars below. The inner returns of the stable blocks have hollow-
chamfered stone cornices over a ;brick dentil frieze. Stone bands rise to
form the hoodmoulds of 2 doors (one on each side converted to a window), one
flanked by 2-light casement windows. The stable blocks have C20 axial chimney
stacks. The stable courtyard is completed by a quadrant brick wall with stone
plinth and coping, the gate piers with low pyramidal caps above a brick dentil
cornice. The rear elevation of the coach house block is in the same style as
the front and includes some original round-headed horned 4-pane sashes. The
coach house block includes original groom's accommodation with an original
stack with a corbelled brick cornice to the shaft.

Interior: not inspected.

A handsome C19 stable block.

Listing NGR: TQ5319139525

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26552049

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)