30,000 ‘scoria brick’ cobbles, a clock tower, ceramic water troughs, hay loft winches, cast iron wheel buffers and bullnose brick interior walls are just some of the many historic and original features that have been carefully preserved, restored and reinstated at Sheepfolds Stables.
However, look back 140 years to circa 1884 and the former stables block and courtyard would have been a hive of activity of a different kind. This 20,000 sq ft site would have sat at the heart of the city’s heavy industrial past; ie railways and goods infrastructure.
Sheepfolds Stables accommodated circa 100 horses which directly served and transported goods to and from the railway depots and other trade sites along the River Wear.
Designed by William Bell and owned and operated by the North Eastern Railway company, it is believed that Sheepfolds Stables included a shoeing shed, loose boxes, a harness room and a horse hospital.
However, whilst the buildings had, over recent decades, fallen into disrepair, they have now been brought back to life with a key focus from the start of the redevelopment being to ‘keep the history alive’.
This has seen the design and onsite construction teams unearth, preserve and now re-incorporate many original fixtures and fittings from bolts, brackets and door frames to cobbled walkways, stable doors, partitions and drinking troughs, into the build.
Other key features restored include curved bullnose bricks, designed specifically to prevent injury and keep the working horses safe. They proudly frame the entrance of the venue as well as the new whiskey and cigar lounge. First-floor hayloft ladders are also visible on the interior wall of ‘I Scream for Pizza’, while water troughs and internal cast-iron columns take pride of place inside the central courtyard building.
More than 100 timber-framed windows have been handmade by apprentice joiners onsite, and crafted using traditional skills to ensure they fit perfectly with the look and feel of the building. Likewise, trusses – to replace fire-damaged woodwork in a large section of the building, have also been designed and constructed to replicate, almost identically, the original design that had remained intact in another part of the stables.
An original working cart, thought to be used at Sheepfolds Stables around the early 1900s, has also been acquired and reinstated. This takes pride of place in the bar as a reminder of the building’s rich past.
Furthermore, the clock (located above the main archway) was an empty space for years, but by locating and using old archive plans, a special commission was made for the Cumbrian Clock Company to recreate a new piece which looks exactly how it would have done more than 140 years ago.
Many of the areas at Sheepfolds Stables were built (and sized) relative to the scale of the horses being housed, and include raised wall structures, beams, trusses and high-level windows. These features form an important part of the historic narrative of the site, and have been meticulously maintained.
