Building record 15531/2 - Stables at Chorlton Lodge

<1> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2012, Chorlton Lodge, Chorlton Lane, Cuddington, Malpas: PPS5 Statement, R4571 (Client Report). SCH9170.

Chorlton Lodge is an early 19th century villa set in open countryside to the north-west of Malpas. It has a plaque inscribed with the date 1825 and the name L Vaughn. Immediately north of the house is a stable building which was extended and adapted in the 20th century for housing livestock. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a number of rural villas or small country houses were constructed, without farms or estates. Chorlton Lodge is an example of this trend, and was built in 1825 for members of the Vaughan family who held property in Malpas and surroundings from the 13th century. According to the Tithe apportionments, in 1837 the property was in the ownership of Thomas Vaughan, and leased to Mrs Mathilda Cotton.

Whilst the stable block has a date of 1868 painted on an inside wall within the loft area, the building is probably contemporary with the house, which would have required stables when first erected. The Tithe Map of 1837 shows the house, together with the stables and another small building, possibly a coach house, enclosing the stable courtyard on the west side. Two drives lead to the house, one to the front door, and the other to the stables. The OS maps of 1875 and 1910 show little change, apart from the addition of minor outbuildings on the west side of the stables, and the extension of the stables at the east gable end. The coach house, which appears clearly on the Tithe map, but less distinctly on the OS maps, is recorded in photographs taken in the 1950s, but is no longer extant.

The stables are one and a half storeys in height, and face onto the former stable yard, which retains in part its original cobbled surface. The original building consists of two enclosures on the ground floor, one with three stalls, and one with a pair of loose boxes. The stalls are lit by two original iron-framed windows with small panes and a battened door. An original circular pitch hole provides access to the hay loft above. The loose boxes have a single timber Yorkshire sliding sash window and a bipartite stable door with fanlight over. To the right of the loose boxes is a doorway that leads into a corridor, and gives access to the tack room that was added in the early 20th century.

The tack room extension led to a number of changes being made. Previous to this, the south east doorway gave access to the loose boxes, as marked by the blocked internal doorway in the corridor. The present door and window to the loose boxes in the south elevation are alterations. The doorway to the hay loft is probably also an alteration made at this time, for an original blocked doorway is visible in the west gable wall, which was later blocked when the lean-to was added below.

At the west end of the stables, a lean-to open shed was added in the late 19th or early 20th century. Beyond this is a pair of linked brick outbuildings, also late 19th century in origin, the lower of which has a corrugated metal roof. Whilst the smaller one currently contains redundant cooling plant, it is unclear what purpose these buildings originally served. They have been substantially altered externally, as seen in the irregular pattern of masonry, and it seems likely that they originally formed some kind of low walled enclosure to the stable court, before being enlarged and roofed over. At the south west corner is the remnant of a mounting block, though this is insufficient in height to have served effectively for mounting horses, and may be of relatively modern construction. It is evident from the disturbance of brickwork that it was not built as an integral part of the outbuilding or walled enclosure.

The 1930s lean-to cow barn extension on the north side involved enlarging the stable building by more than 100% and overruns it at both east and west gable ends. The north wall, which is wholly obscured externally, was coated in a cement render when enclosed by the extension.