The Stables Coleshill Estate Oxfordshire

Coleshill House was constructed in the mid 17th century and it was of outstanding
architectural significance, forming one of the first examples of neo-classical
architecture in the country. Unfortunately the house was pulled down in the 1950s
following a devastating fire and the estate, which includes a very well preserved mid
19th century model farm, was given to the National Trust.
In the 1830s a new stableyard was constructed a short distance to the north of the
house and the north range from this has also recently been severely damaged in a
fire. The National Trust will restore this structure, which has been partially gutted,
and prior to this work they have commissioned Oxford Archaeology to undertake
historic building investigation and recording.
The investigation has helped to confirm the nature of the construction of the building,
the different uses of each area and the secondary alterations to the structure.
Prior to the recent fire the exterior of the building remained close to its original form
but some alterations had been undertaken to the interior, partly relating to a phase
of re-use during the Second World War. This phase of the stableyard was one of the
most interesting aspects of the building’s history because it was reused by the
Auxiliary Units, a highly secretive organization which would have formed an
important part of Britain’s resistance in the event of a Nazi invasion.
Nothing in the project has cast any real doubt on the 1830s date for the construction
of the structure although an unusual quirk was noted in the fact that the external
brickwork surrounding each of the windows was not bonded to the brickwork
immediately inside forming the inner surroundings to the openings. This creates
straight joints in the window jambs between the inner and outer brickwork and
although this could indicate different phases of work this is considered to be unlikely
in this case. In this building it is more likely that the structural breaks result from
different grades of bricklayer undertaking the finer external work (including rubbed
brick lintels) to the lower grade bricklayer undertaking the internal work. It could be
that the main shell of the building had already been erected when the higher grade
brick layer came to site to create the external brickwork around the openings.