Summary

A late C18 purpose-built stable block, converted into residential accommodation after 1905.

Description

Former stable block. Circa 1786 with clock mechanism dated 1792. Architect not at present identified. Adapted into residential accommodation after 1905.

MATERIALS: stock brick in Flemish bond with a hipped slate roof, three brick chimneystacks and a wide dentilled and bracketed wooden eaves cornice. Slate and wooden clock tower and cupola.

PLAN: rectangular plan, of two storeys, in seven bays to the entrance front and three bays to the ends, with a central clock tower with a cupola. Internally there was originally stabling on the ground floor with a hayloft and accommodation above.

EXTERIOR: the principal front faces south-east. It is symmetrical in seven bays with a central clock tower with a splayed base clad in slate, on which is a clock face in a wooden pedimented surround. Above is an open wooden cupola, square on plan, which contains a bell and is surmounted by a domed wooden cupola under a gilded weathervane. The ground floor has a blind arcade of round-headed gauged brick arches containing flat-arched leaded casement windows. The first floor has sash windows with glazing bars under gauged heads and a central loading door.

In the centre is a ribbed, planked door under a pointed arched head and glazed paired doors to either end. The ends are of three bays. The rear or north-west elevation is plainer. The ground floor has a central oculus and two triple leaded light windows. The first floor has nine leaded light windows; a raised brick band separates the storeys.

INTERIOR: the clock mechanism is dated 1792 with the maker's name, John Grant of Fleet Street. The central wooden staircase is late C19 or early C20 with triple stick balusters set diagonally.

History

The stable block was built circa 1786 for the Hon. Charlotte Boyle-Walsingham (1738-1790), widow of the Hon. Captain Robert Boyle Walsingham, at about the same time as the construction of the main house, which was originally named Boyle Farm. The clock movement, housed below the roof cupola is dated 1792 with the maker's name 'John Grant of Fleet Street' cast into the metal frame.

In 1905 the property, including the stables, was sold to the Church of England Community of the Compassion of Jesus, renamed and dedicated as the Home of Compassion in the same year. The stables, later renamed 'The Priory', were converted into staff quarters for a nursing home which was housed in the main house.

Reasons for Listing

The late C18 stable block (known as The Priory) at the Home of Compassion is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date: information about the date of the clock mechanism suggests the building is probably late C18 in date;
* Architectural interest: a large purpose-built stable range to a country house;
* Group value: group value with the Grade II* Home of Compassion.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26485465

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)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)