Stable Block

The Visitors’ Centre was one of two of Myddelton’s Carriage Houses - where the estate’s horse-drawn carriages were kept. – Inside, you can still see some of the building’s original flagstone and herringbone flooring, and the running boards that stopped the carriage wheel hubs from damaging the wall. The Carriage House was just one of the buildings that formed the Stable Block. It was built at around the same time as the main house, in the early 19thcentury. The horses were kept here – in stalls to the left of the Carriage House. A harness room, feeders, troughs, and a hay-loft were all located here, behind the central arch. When Bowles first got a car, in the mid 1930s, the carriages were sold and the horses were put out to pasture in the fields behind.

The clock over the central doorway dates from 1826. Every quarter of an hour it lets out a distinctive chime.

For many years this was the sound that helped to regulate the lives of the people who worked here. It reminded them when they could take a break, when they had to get back to their duties, and when their day’s work was done. But this was no ordinary clock. The firm that made it - Thwaites and Reed - also made clocks for Westminster Abbey, Ely Cathedral, and the Horse Guards Parade.

The clock was renovated and put back in working order in the mid 1990s. Every eight days someone has to climb up the clocktower stairs to wind it up by hand. You might like to listen out for its chime as you wander through the gardens.