The Coach House and Stables at Little Barford, Little Barford, Bedford

Summary

A combined coach house and stables with grooms' accommodation and hay lofts above, built around 1870 and likely to be contemporary with the associated Manor House. Its architect is unknown but it may be the work of John Usher or his office.

Description

MATERIALS

The coach house and stables are constructed of gault brick with red brick details. Its pitched roofs are covered in plain tiles.

PLAN

The building has a horseshoe plan around a central yard.

EXTERIOR

The building faces east. It is two storeys high with pitched roofs and gables at either end of the north and south wings. The outer corners all have rusticated brick quoins, and there is a continual cornice of cogged red brickwork. All of the window and door openings have chamfered jambs.

The outermost parts of the eastern elevations are the two gable ends of the north and south ranges. These each have loading doors at first floor level, while the southern (left-hand) gable also has a hinged hoist for (historically) loading hay.

Between the two gables the three-sided courtyard is arranged with the coach house at its centre, indicated by three pairs of wooden doors beneath a single continuous wooden lintel, with a single doorway on the left-hand side. At first floor the coach house has two three-over-six sash windows, and a loading door. On the north side of the courtyard is the surviving stable range, with a central doorway at ground floor, and (boarded) windows on each side. At first floor of the stable range is a single three-over-six sash window. The south side of the courtyard has a blocked arch at ground floor (possibly a cart store when originally constructed), a wide central door, an eight-over-eight sash window, and an internal porch. At first floor there is a single three-over-six sash.

The north elevation of the building projects outwards slightly for four bays at ground floor where the horse stalls were extended during the period of construction. Each stall is indicated by a Diocletian window with a red brick arch. A fifth bay with a further window is flush with the east wall. At first floor there are two three-over-six sash windows.

The west elevation is simpler and none of the detailing here uses the contrasting red brick found on the more prominently visible elevations. At ground floor there are three Diocletian windows (one boarded), and two six-over-six sashes. At first floor there are three three-over-six sashes. At the right-hand side there is a small projection for an outdoor WC added after the primary phase of construction.

The south elevation has a single-cell projecting beneath a mono-pitched roof with an arched entrance on the east side. This projection forms part of the original structure of the building. At ground floor there is a single Diocletian window, and at the left-hand side is a doorway, and the entrance to the outdoor WC.

INTERIOR

The stables retain their four original horse stalls. Each one is roughly 2.4m x 3.3m in area and has a brick floor with a central drain, panelled sides, a water trough and an iron manger. The partitions between each stall have a railing at head height. Each stall retains its original door, with ball finials on top of the door posts. There is space for a shorter stall at the west end, occupied instead by a staircase. Within the open volume of the hayloft there are two free-standing spaces: a small office and a single room. A hatch in the hayloft floorboards shows where hay would have been dropped down. The roof structure is formed of king post trusses, all of which are fully visible in this area.

The coach house itself is a single interior space behind three pairs of wooden doors. It has a brick floor, and a lath and plaster ceiling. It adjoins a stair compartment with a staircase that has no balustrade and a simple handrail. Also at ground floor, next to the stairs, is a panelled tack room with a cast iron range, boarded floor, and original cupboards. Around the upper part of the walls are short wooden rails for use as saddle racks and storing other tack. In the first floor, above the coach house and tack room, there are some domestic features such as a surviving fireplace, and a 1960s kitchen. The plan of this area upstairs, likely to have been used as accommodation for grooms, is largely unaltered. At the north end of the first floor there is a room with a loading door facing onto the yard. This room contains an opening in the floor which communicates directly with the interior of the stables, acting as a speaking tube.

The ground floor of the southern range comprises stores, and a room with brick floors matching those of the stable wing but later altered with concrete blocks to accommodate an engine or generator. The loft above this area could not be accessed for inspection.

History

The village of Little Barford lies in the valley of the River Great Ouse. At the time of the Domesday survey (1086) Little Barford contained two manors. By the mid-C19 these had been combined to form a single manor held by the Alington family. The Rev’d John Alington became Rector of the church of St Denys in 1822, ultimately bringing both the manor and rectory under single ownership during his lifetime. On his death in 1863 a new rector was appointed. The new lord of the manor, William Alington, exchanged properties with the new rector and began reconstructing the old rectory as the new Manor House. The building was likely to have been designed by John Usher (1822-1904), who redesigned it as a house for a country gentleman.

The stables and coach house first appear on the 1884 25" Ordnance Survey (the actual survey took place in 1881). It shares some characteristics with the lodges, estate cottages and school house built at Little Barford in the period following Usher's (putative) work on the new Manor House and may have been designed by him or his office.

The building accommodated stables, a tack room and coach storage around the ground floor of a C-shaped range, with accommodation for grooms upstairs, and a hay loft. Some alterations have occurred since its construction. An archway on the south side has been in-filled. The central ground floor room of the southern wing may originally have housed horse boxes but was repurposed in the C20 as an engine/generator house. In the hayloft above the northern wing a small mid-C20 room and a glazed office have been constructed as free-standing elements within the open space. A small kitchen was constructed above the coach house in the mid-C20. Externally, short walls and railings were added to the front yard in the later C20.

Reasons for Listing

The Coach House and Stables at Little Barford, a combined coach house and stables with grooms' accommodation and hay lofts above, built around 1870 perhaps to the designs of John Usher or his office, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* For the high quality of the building’s internal spaces, especially the finely detailed horse stalls, the presence of an original speaking tube, and the well-appointed tack room;
* For the survival of the core elements of its plan, with a clear distinction between coach house and the stables, and with grooms’ accommodation at first floor;

Historic interest:

* For the high degree of survival in the building's historic fabric;
* As an original part of the remodelled manorial complex at the heart of the estate village.

Group value:

* For its strong functional relationship to the Manor House, and to the Motor House that form part of the manorial complex at Little Barford.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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