Description
A stone-built stable block (Grade B1 listed; HB12–2–2 C), located 120m north-west–north of the castle and adjacent to the eastern side of the forge yard (131857). It was built in 1833–1835 to a design by Edward Blore and comprises a court (20.9m by 15.5m) with two-storey ranges on all sides save the east, where there is a single-storey range with a central arched entrance. Externally, the east range is faced in ashlar and has been given a number of ‘Gothic’ features, such as buttresses and loop holes. Prior to the alterations in 1936, there were loose boxes in the east range, while opposite the entrance in the west range there were four coach houses. The north range had stalls, a harness room and cleaning room, while the south range had more stalls and a groom’s tea room. A pair of stone stairs each end of the west range led to stable-staff living accommodation above the coach houses, while on the first floor of the north and south ranges there were fodder stores.
None of the original architectural drawings of the yard survive, but fortunately some of the correspondence relating to its construction is extant in the Crom papers (see Appendix 29, HLS Volume I). From the evidence contained in this material, it is clear that two tenders were submitted in 1833 to build the yard. One of these came from J Henry, the Dublin builder, who was at that time engaged in building the castle itself, while the other was from John Clarke, a local builder from Clones in County Monaghan. In the event, Clarke’s tender of £2448.1.8d was accepted, while Henry’s considerably larger estimate of £3469 was not. The fact that Henry was on extremely bad terms with both Blore and Crichton at this time no doubt contributed to his failure in being awarded the contract.
Work began building the yard at the beginning of July 1833 and John Clarke was paid his first instalment of £250 at the end of August that year. A fee of £5 for ‘stubbing trees’ in the account shows that the area first had to be cleared of woodland. Subsequent instalments to Clarke continued to be paid at regular intervals until June 1835 when it appears that the work had been completed. A few features, which were evidently included in Blore’s original plans, notably a fuel house and a cupola, were never built (see Appendix 29, HLS Volume I). The final bill for work was £2230.13.7d.
The location of the stable yard ‘away from house, formal gardens and conservatory and beyond the kitchen court’ was typical of Blore, while the similarity in architectural style with the house was also typical (Mellor, 1974, p 61). In plan, most of Blore’s stable yards were fairly standardised, though in some respects the Crom yard differs from the norm. Typically, his yards were built around a court, but usually with ‘arched entrances opposite to each other, one of them having a clock tower above it’. It may be that the cupola mentioned above was intended to be a clock tower, but it was never built. His yards generally had ‘between 15 to 20 stables, plus fodder stores, harness room, loose boxes and coach houses’, as was the case at Crom, while ‘the stable staff were accommodated on the first floor that was normally built along two sides of the quadrangle’ (Mellor, 1974, p 61). In his stable yard designs, Blore was always more concerned with convenience and cost rather than with producing magnificent architectural displays and this is particularly well illustrated at Crom where the yard is modest in scale and unpretentious in style.
In its heyday the stable yard employed a large staff of grooms, postilions, coachmen and stablemen. When recalling his youth in the 1870s, Bullock remembered the ‘little shaven men, with their blue liveries and cockaded hats’ who had worked in the yard, and he recalled too that they were ‘kindly souls, had always a smile and a cherry word, lived on good beef, ale and cheese’. The yard staff in those days were largely English according to Bullock, who noted that ‘only the stablemen had a chance to be Irish’ (Bullock, 1929, p 25).
For almost exactly 100 years the yard was to remain more or less unchanged in its physical appearance. Conversion of the yard buildings into estate cottages took place in the 1930s, but fortunately prior to this activity a detailed ground plan of the old yard was produced by F Westlake Parkinson, an engineer based at Chichester Street, Belfast (see Appendix 50, HLS Volume I, Crom Architectural Drawings). The conversion began in the summer of 1936 when the east range was made into two cottages, one each side of the entrance arch. The architect of this work was F G Townsend of Enniskillen, while the contractor was I W H Fawcett of Lisnabane, Tempo. The work involved converting into living space the loose boxes in the east range as well as part of the stalls and their lofts in the north and south ranges. It also involved building a septic tank 4ft by 4ft by 5ft deep, a filter 11ft by 5ft by 5ft deep, and additional pipes to connect the drain and the tank. In the following year, another cottage was made out of the south range, while the coach houses were converted into garages with sliding wooden doors. It was also around this time that the fenestration woodwork was painted Crom green on the instructions of Lady Erne. According to George Ryan, it was previously all coloured brown. An entry in Hog and Lithgow’s accounts of 1837 tells us that the yard gates were originally painted a dark oak colour with varnish (see Appendix 35, HLS Volume I).
Detailed account of yard’s buildings;
East Range
Single storey range each side of the main entrance, formerly contained four loose boxes (each 5.10m by 3.7m). Each box was entered through an opening with half doors on the west side. The current doors to the 1936 cottages (Hunter’s cottage on the north and George Ryan’s house on the south) occupy the same position as two of these doors, though the original openings were somewhat wider than the present ones. Parkinson’s circa 1928 plan of the yard shows that each box was lit by a window facing onto the court.
On the east side the range is faced with ashlar and includes the gable ends of the north and south ranges in a length of 34m. The gable ends have three window openings and all of these openings are original, though the ground-floor outside windows at each end were formerly dummies. The window openings between the buttresses and gable ends were inserted in 1936 and in each case replaced a narrow stone-cut loop or split similar to those which still exist between the buttresses. The steel frames and casements in all the windows of the façade were installed in 1936. The openings in the gables formerly contained wooden glazed windows which (except for the dummies) opened outwards from the top, inwards from the base, and were operated on horizontal swinging pivots. The ground-floor windows in the gables contained 19 panes (4 by 4 inches) and those above had similar-sized panes and so probably contained 32 panes (4 by 8 inches). The glazing bars are likely to have been plain like those which still exist in the courtyard today. The main wooden gates of the yard are original.
South Range
Two-storey range, 29m long externally and formerly containing eight stalls, a loose box, and a tea room on the ground floor and fodder stores above. The stalls occupied two rooms, one at the east end (8.2m by 5.2m), and the other in the range centre (7.6m by 5.2m). Blore generally insisted that his stalls did not exceed 6ft 6-inches and those at Crom appear to have measured that (Keele University Library, S 2761, f 2). There were vertical chutes in each room enabling fodder to be lowered from the store above. Between the two stall areas was a long rectangular room (3.5m by 5.2m), which was lit by a window in the end wall. This was the groom’s tea room, which Bullock remembered from his youth in the 1870s as:
…a narrow living room with table, forms and chairs, and an open range that always was cherry with the chirping of crickets; here would be talk and songs and jests, often no doubt of a Rabelaisian subtlety beyond my innocence and I often would sit engrossed, watching the card players at their great game of 25, or listening to the noisy talk (Bullock, 1929, p 25).
On the west side of the central stall area was a room (3.9m by 5.2m) which apparently served as a loose box. This also opened out onto a long passage (1.05m by 5.55m) with a door and glazed light over at the south end. On the west side of this passage there was formerly a door which led into a rectangular room (3m by 5.2m), which occupies the corner of the yard block. This little room was made into part of the dairy in the early part of the present century, but in the 19th century it served as the steward’s office. Shan Bullock, whose father was the estate steward, remembered how:
…often I helped Father to prepare the weekly wage sheets and diaries; occasionally, he being on other duty, I sat at the counter in his office, called the workers in one by one from the draughty passage where they had gathered – always on a Monday and always, be it said, during their dinner hour – ticked off their names and paid them their wages earned for work strenuously done over a week of 72 hours (Bullock, 1929, p 51).
In 1936–1937, the central and eastern ends of the south range were converted into cottages. As a result of these alterations, the fenestration on both sides of the range was changed. Most of the openings on the south façade were inserted in 1936–1937. The dairy window (old steward’s office), which has splayed jambs in reveal, appears to have been altered at some stage in the 19th century. However, the window in the room directly above it is original, while the framed and ledged batten door leading to the passage is also original, as is the glazed overlight of 15 panes. The only other window opening on the ground floor of this façade which is original is the opening which once gave light to the groom’s tea room. It today contains a steel frame and casement like the other 1936–1937 openings in the façade.
The north façade of the south range has five window openings on the first floor. All of these originally contained louvred frames. In 1936–1937 four of these openings were widened and all five were given steel casement windows. On the ground floor there are three door openings and two windows. Both openings were originally at a higher level, with their lintels formerly on the same level as the old door lintels. Both contained glazed windows (16 panes), which opened outwards from the top and were hung on horizontal swinging pivots. The double door with glazed overlight near the south-east corner is original; the adjacent door architrave and overlight is also original, but the double door has had glass panes inserted into it (this formerly gave access to the groom’s tea room). The door and its opening (which today give access to Alastair Ryan’s cottage in the central part of the range), was originally the same as the other of the façade. In 1936–1937, however, the lintel of this opening was lowered and a new door was inserted and set back from the wall face.
North Range
This range contained eight stalls, a cleaning room and a harness room. The stalls occupied two rooms each with four stalls: one at the east end (8.25m by 5.15m), and the other towards the west end (7.7m by 5.15m). The greater part of the eastern stall room now forms part of Hunter’s cottage, but the western stall room has remained largely intact, though the stall trevisses have been removed. It was used as the estate shop until recent years, when it became the property manager’s house. Between the two stall rooms is the harness room (5.1m by 4.3m) and cleaning room (5.1m by 2.7m), both of which are intact, though their fittings are gone. An inventory of the contents of the harness room in 1916 tells us it then contained a ‘set of four hand harnesses, brass mounts, set of double harnesses, plated mounts two sets, brass-mounted brown pony harness, child’s pannier, two side saddles, four gentlemen’s saddles, horse clothing and four whips, four double bridles, and eight single bridles’.
At the west end of the north range is a rectangular room (3.5m by 5.05m) which has a wide opening of 2.3m on the north side. This room is separated from the stall room adjacent by a brick rather than a stone wall. The room appears to have been used as a coal store for the gas works which lie on the north side of the yard (131861). However, this was not its original function. Formerly, there was a door (now blocked) on its south wall leading into the staircase area, while above the current north entrance of the room there are two blocked half windows, which must formerly have lit the room from above.
Elsewhere, the north façade of the north range has two original ground-floor windows; these formerly gave light to the harness room and cleaning room. The original frames and glazing bars of these windows have survived. Both windows have plain glazing bars that open outwards at the top and are operated on horizontal swinging pivots. The two window openings on this façade, which today give light to Hunter’s cottage, were inserted in 1936. The two window openings which light the first floor are of 19th-century date, but are of different sizes and contain quite different windows. The larger of these is clearly a later insertion and contains a box frame double hung original; it has six panes, plain glazing bars, hangs on horizontal swinging pivots and opens outwards from the top.
The south-facing façade of the north range has five openings on the first floor. Originally, four of these contained louvred frames, while the opening nearest the south-west corner originally contained a glazed window of nine panes (three by three), which was hung on swinging horizontal pivots and opened outwards from the top. The current window in this opening was installed sometime in the present century. Two of the louvred frames were replaced in 1936–1937 by wider openings containing steel casement windows (Hunter’s cottage). On the ground floor of the façade there are four door openings and one window. The window is original; it has 20 panes (five by four), plain-glazing bars, is hung on horizontal swinging pivots and opens outwards from the top. Three of the door openings (with glazed window of ten panes above) are original. The door to the old harness room was replaced in 1936; originally it was the same as the other three.
West Range
This lies opposite the entrance and contains on the ground floor two large garages (8.2m by 6.6m and 8.1m by 6.5m) with wooden sliding doors in openings 6.5m wide. There were formerly coach houses which were converted into garages in 1937–1938, though the pits were installed by the army during the war. The conversion involved the removal of two stone piers and the installation of concrete lintels and the sliding doors. Formerly there were four entrances to the coach houses; each entrance was 8ft wide (c. 2.5m) and had an arched top (evidently four-centred rather than elliptical or semi-circular). Part of the arch tops is still visible above the concrete lintels and the coach houses were formerly entered by double wooden doors.
Each side of the coach houses there are stone staircases with iron rails. These are original to the yard, though they were evidently installed as an extra (see Appendix 29, HLS Volume I). Entry to these stairs is gained through original framed and ledged batten-sheeted doors with glazed overlights (10 panes with plain glazing bars). The accommodation on the first floor comprised the head coachman’s house, which lay on the north side, and the groom’s quarters on the south side. The coachman’s house is now occupied as a holiday home, while the groom’s quarters, now empty, have little changed over the years. The first-floor window openings of the range are all original and all but one of the frames and glazing bars are also original. Each window has nine panes (3 by 3) and in their original form all had plain glazing bars and opened outwards from the top on horizontal swinging pivots.
The Courtyard
Measures 20.9m by 15.5m. It is today covered with a rough gravel surface with an edging of cobbles around the west, north and east perimeters. This is original though formerly there was a similar cobbled strip along the south perimeter. The current concrete pavement in this area was laid down in the 1950s to provide a level area which was free from damp. Also on the south side of the yard was a flagged area. This was formerly used as a platform on which coaches and horses were washed from a hose in the south wall (fed from a tank in the wood). There also used to be a tap outside the cleaning room.