84139

 

II  

Designated  

28/02/2005  

28/02/2005  

Stable Cottage, coach house and stables at Doldowlod House  

 

Powys  

Nantmel  

 

Doldowlod  

299731  

262544  

 

Forming the N side of the courtyard NW of the house.  

 

 

Doldowlod was purchased by the engineer James Watt of Soho, Birmingham, in 1803 and was developed as a country residence by his son James Watt junior (1769-1848) of Birmingham in the second quarter of the C19. The present house was built in the 1840s as an extension to an existing farmhouse, which was demolished when the house was further extended in the 1870s. The coach house and stables were built in 1835 (date on door head) and are shown on the 1840 Tithe map. The SW range was largely rebuilt in the 1870s, when a cottage, probably for the head groom, was also built at the SE end of the block.  

An L-shaped coach house and stables of rubble stone with tooled dressings, and slate roof on projecting plastered eaves. The lofted SE range has round-headed openings with freestone heads and prominent keystones. It has 2 alternating small-pane wooden cross windows and boarded doors, with replacement loft shutter over the L-hand doorway. At the R end, between full-height freestone pilaster strips, are 2 pairs of double boarded doors and 2-light loft window. The SW range has a round-headed doorway to the R. Its voussoirs bear the inscriptions '1835' and 'Davies, Mason'. It has a boarded door and small-pane overlight. Openings further L are later. Immediately L of the earlier doorway are a pair of Tudor arches with double panelled doors. Further L is a round-headed doorway with boarded door and small-pane overlight, and a round-headed small-pane wooden cross window at the L end. The side wall, continuous with a short gabled bay to the rear, has 4 cast iron vents under segmental rock-faced quoins, and a loft opening. The rear of the gabled bay has 2 small-pane windows under lintels and a similar loft window. The rear of the SW range has a small-pane segmental-headed window. Further L is a boarded door with loft door above it, both with blue-brick jambs, and a 2-light small-pane window to their L. The R-hand gabled bay has an attached rubble-stone wall enclosing a small yard. At the SE end of the SE range is Stable Cottage. It is a tall 3½-storey structure with freestone angle pilaster strips, slate roof on projecting plastered eaves, hipped to the R, and with a stone stack in the roof slope facing the yard. In the lower storey are a pair of double-panelled doors and, to the L, a round-headed doorway leading to a stone stair. The middle storey (effectively the lower storey of the cottage) has a 2-light small-pane casement window to the R, and a replaced window above it, under flat stone arches. In the centre of the upper storey is a large sundial with gnomon. The cottage is built against a steep bank and in the rear elevation the entrance is in the upper storey. An entrance bay on the R side has tooled stone pilasters and a panelled door under a flat stone arch. To its L the wall is splayed and has a canted small-pane bay window. Above is a triangular-headed small-pane attic window, and a similar window is in the NW gable end.  

Not inspected.  

Listed for its special architectural interest as a well-detailed and well-preserved C19 service building of definite quality and character, forming part of a strong group of courtyard buildings on the N side of the main house.