Building record 4549/1/2 - Stables and Coach House at Backford Hall

Stables and Coach house of Backford Hall. They are positioned around a cobbled courtyard. The coach house which has the same diapered brickwork as the main house bears a date stone of 1853. It is understood that the original house built by Cunningham was destroyed by fire and then rebuilt, which would account for the discrepancy in dates (1).

The coach house is brick with a slate roof. There are three double doors with sandstone pediments above. A single dormer window above the central door has a date stone of 1853. In the gable end to the north west has a covered hoist and high door to the hayloft with stone framed ventilation slots below. There is also a circular pitching hole in the main gable and a second in the adjoining lean to brick building (2).

The coach house seems to share some of the finer tooled stonework believed to be associated with the 1853 house. Coarser details seem to have been added to make the buildings fit with the style of the 1863 house. The western part of the stable buildings, although bearing a date stone of 1853, is clearly contemporaneous with the 1863 house (see CHER 4549/1/0). A low single storey brick and slate structure forms the third side of the courtyard (3).

<1> Cheshire Gardens Trust, 2011 onwards, Research and Recording Report (Report). SCH6655.

<2> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Watson, M 3/8/2012 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

<3> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R 08/08/2012 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.