Description

Earlier to mid 19th century with later addition. Single storey with basement and attic, 6-bay U-plan gabled stable block set on sloping site with former groom's cottage above; M-gabled addition at rear. Squared and snecked polished whinstone; cream sandstone dressings; overhanging timber bracketed eaves; rubble whinstone to sides and rear; slatted timber to rear addition. Stugged sandstone quoins; stugged long and short surrounds to lightly droved, stop-chamfered openings; predominantly sandstone mullions to bipartites; projecting cills. Some lattice glazing; some vented openings.

S (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: recessed 4-bay range comprising single windows at ground flanking centre (3-pane and vented opening to right; latticed and vented opening to left); boarded timber doors in bays to outer left and right; boarded timber attic opening beneath gable off-set to right of centre; bipartite window breaking eaves beneath gabled dormerhead off-set to left. Gabled bays advanced to outer left and right with bipartite windows at both floors in bay to outer left; bipartite window at ground in bay to outer right; single window above.

E (SIDE) ELEVATION: 2-leaf boarded timber doors to large segmental-arched openings at ground in both bays; blind above. Slatted timber addition recessed to outer right.

W (SIDE) ELEVATION: boarded timber sliding doors obscuring depressed-arched opening centred at ground; gabled dormer above.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: projecting M-gabled addition in bays to outer left. Boarded timber door at ground off-set to right of centre; 6 pane and vented window in bay to left; blind gabled bay to outer right.

Predominantly timber latticed glazing in casement windows; some 3- and 6-pane vented openings; 4-pane casement window to groom?s cottage; some skylights. Grey slate roof; cast-iron rainwater goods. Later ridge stack; circular cans.

INTERIOR: stalls in place; boarded timber stall partitions; boarded timber doors; stone floors with drainage channels; timber kicking posts; slatted timber hay boxes.

FRONT AND REAR COURTYARDS: geometric-patterned cobbled courtyard to front. Plain cobbled courtyard to rear.

Statement of Interest

B Group with the nearby lodge, The Kennels and The Riverside (see separate list entries). An impressive stable block still in use (1997). Along with the lodge (a former gardener's cottage for the walled garden situated to its N), the stables are thought to date from the earlier to mid 19th century and a period of 'improvement' funded the Heritors of Abbey St Bathans, the Turnbull family. Lawyers by trade and Heritors of the parish from 1786, the Turnbulls invested a significant sum of money in the development of the area. Thus, the building of a new manse, the upgrading of a number of existing farms and the erection of high quality homes for estate workers (see separate list entry for The Square). Today, all these 'improvements' remain much as they did when first complete and are therefore, rare examples of a 19th century development funded by three generations of the same family. Here, much of the original detailing remains - in particular, the latticed and vented windows, the intricate cobbled courtyard and the high quality finish of polished whinstone with sandstone dressings. Like the adjacent lodge, the stables would originally have served the nearby Turnbull residence, Abbey St Bathans House - a complicated gabled house with a mass of decorative bargeboards and barley-sugar cans (see separate list entry).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17845418

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide