Netheravon House: the stable block

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 10 May 2017

Zoom shot taken from the churchyard. The stables seem very grand in scale, given the size of the house itself. They are ranged around a large quadrangle, with the entrance on the north side (sunlit in this picture). The east side (shaded in the picture) faces the house, and is a formal composition arranged around a singular and extravagant architectural feature http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5391077 - plainly not intended for the benefit of the horses. It seems very odd that all inspiration (it can't surely have been a question of funds?) ran out when it came to the north-facing entrance - not blessed with as much as an arch. (Is there a grand entrance on the south side, perhaps? I rather suspect so). The Wiltshire volume of Pevsner dates the house to the late 18th century. When the Army's Cavalry School relocated to Netheravon in the early 1900s, the house became the officers' mess. I can't help wondering whether the availability of such sumptuous stable accommodation influenced the decision to move. Current use of the stable block appears to be residential.

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