Stables and Coach-house at Picton Castle

Cadw's description

Location

200 m SE of Picton Castle

History

Designed by Thomas Rowlands, architect and builder, of Haverfordwest. The stable block with coach-house is part of the estate improvements commissioned by R B P Philipps, who succeeded Lord Milford in 1823. It appears on the estate map of 1829. The buildings are currently (1996) under restoration. An adjacent large building at the S is a modern cattle shed, and the old stables are currently also used as cow or calf sheds.

Exterior

A rectangular stable and coach-house block in a castellated style, overall about 40 by 60 m. The different elements of the design are strongly differentiated architecturally so that it appears more as a picturesquely planned group of related buildings rather than one block; the skyline is varied and parts stand forward or back. The block is entered at the centre of the long (W) side, and the buildings are arranged intramurally. They are built of local rubble stone masonry, brought to courses, with quoins of limestone. Extensive traces of render remain and the buildings appear to have been rendered throughout. Crenellated parapets conceal slated roofs. The buildings are nearly all intact but the roof of a building at the NW corner is missing.

The layout is symmetrical about its E/W axis. The entrance is by a vaulted passageway with sturdy Norman-style columns and arches with cushion caps at front and rear. There is a small carved face above. The passage vault is groined. Octagonal clock-tower above, with clocks front and rear. Low ogee-profile cupola and weathervane above. The entrance is flanked by two-storey domestic quarters, consisting of a three-window range each side in which the bay closest to the entrance passage at front is slightly advanced and raised, and with small round headed windows. The parapet above is corbelled forward. On the yard elevation of these domestic blocks both outer bays are advanced and raised; the strongly architectural treatment of these buildings is as marked in the interior elevations as on the front elevation.

At the opposite side of the yard is the coach-house for three carriages. Three high arches, three round-headed windows above. This building has small flanking bays, slightly angled, with the staircases. There is a large undivided room over the coach-house. The adjacent parapets each side are ramped up. At the N and S sides, with large returns at E to meet the coach-house, cartsheds and stables. Cartsheds at the front corners, followed each side by a triple-arched open section with Norman style detailing and a stable range.

Interior

The end room of the domestic quarters at the N end has been used as an office, and is lined with vertical boarding with a narrow carved frieze at the top.

Reason for designation

Listed as a stable and coach-house block of the early C19 in a picturesque castellated architectural style and in virtually intact condition, and for group value with Picton Castle.