A Lost History

by Marie-Louise Jensen

I've been trying to research early Georgian stables in Britain over the last few months. It's been an unexpected challenge. Whatever topic or era I've tried to research up to now, I've always found books, museums or information online. Not so stables.
One small booklet spanning the medieval to the Victorian era has been my total haul up to now. It hadn't occured to be until now that this would be such an obscure topic, but when I started to think about it, it made sense.
Stables were gradually superseeded by cars as a means of transport. Cars required storage space and so no-longer-needed stables were converted or flattened. The way of life for those that lived and worked in and around the stables was eroded and finally lost. As stable work was the province of the working man, possibly illiterate, and not of any relevance to the wealthy and influential, little of that way of life was recorded or preserved.


Dyrham Park

I took a trip up to Dyrham Park, outside Bath, in July. This is our local National Trust property, and I hoped the guides might be able to tell me more about life in the stables. I was sadly diappointed. The ony information on offer (compared to a great wealth of detail on the life of the great house itself) was the date of the stables' conversion to garages.
The stables are still there, of course. Like stables in nearly all other great houses they have been converted to garages, and then tea rooms, gift shops, conference rooms or wedding venues. Nothing of their original use remains.

Stable Archway

So I could admire the archway that led through from the front facade of the house through to the main stable yard, wide and tall enough for both horses, carriages and carts. I could recreate the stalls and loose boxes in my mind while drinking tea and enjoying a scone where once horses would have munched hay and rested. But as to the life of the horses and their grooms, I left the property none the wiser.


Stables converted to gift shop

Many unanswered questions remain. For example, did the stable staff eat their meals with the house servants or seperately? I'm tempted to think the upper servants might have objected to the aroma of horse at meal times. Where did they sleep? What hours did they work? Long ones, no doubt, but it would be nice to know.
The most useful piece of information I picked up at Dyrham is that there is a NT Carriage Museum at Arlington Court in Devon, so that is the next trip I'm planning. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile if anyone has found information on this topic that I've missed, please do share!

Stable block attached to main house