page_title: Pitfour estate
section_title: Stables and riding school
hierarchical_section_title: Pitfour estate / Stables and riding school
caption_attribution_description: English: Pitfour stables, Aberdeenshire, listed building, listed as at 'high risk'
context_page_description: The Pitfour estate, in the Buchan area of north-east Scotland, was an ancient barony encompassing most of the extensive Longside Parish, stretching from St Fergus to New Pitsligo. It was purchased in 1700 by James Ferguson of Badifurrow, who became the first Laird of Pitfour.
  The estate was substantially renovated by Ferguson and the following two generations of his family. At the height of its development in the 18th and 19th centuries the 50-square-mile property had several extravagant features including a two-mile racecourse, an artificial lake and an observatory. The original mansion house was extended before being rebuilt. The surrounding parklands were landscaped, major renovations were undertaken, and follies such as a small replica Temple of Theseus were constructed, in which George Ferguson, the fifth laird, was thought to keep alligators in a cold bath.
  The first three lairds transformed the estate into a valuable asset. Lord Pitfour, the second laird, purchased additional lands including Deer Abbey and Inverugie Castle.
context_section_description: The stables were built in 1820, during the early part of the Admiral's ownership of the estate, based on a design by John Smith; the buildings are sited to the rear of the mansion house. Built in a horseshoe-shape, neo-classical design, the two-storey building was constructed in pinned rubble with granite dressings; grey granite was used for the parapet and quoins. The main buildings were originally harled. A corrugated asbestos hipped roof was at some point substituted for the original slate roof. It features a columned rotunda above a timber clock tower, which has a finial and domed copper roof. The pedimented centrepiece of the symmetrical front elevation is a segmental arch and has three panels set back between columns. Each side is bordered by wings of three bays with single-bay pavilions.
  The stables are connected to an adjoining two-storey house. They provided accommodation for ten horses and included four loose boxes, a harness room and a coachman's house; six bedrooms above were for servants. Two coach houses were later used as garages. The stables building was marketed in 1997 for approximately £70,000. Charles McKean describes the stables as "straddling the skyline like a palace". The stables are listed by Historic Scotland as being at very high risk, and were described in 1997 sale literature as unused and dilapidated.
  An indoor riding school slightly to the north-west of the stables measured 98 feet (30 metres) by 49 feet (15 metres). It was used to entertain guests when the facilities at the mansion house were not large enough. More than two hundred local farmers and other landowners celebrated the wedding of George Arthur, the sixth laird, in the riding school in 1861. In 1883 it was again used to entertain; on that occasion it was decorated with flags and Chinese lanterns, and pine flooring was laid. Later, it was used as indoor tennis courts before being demolished.
caption: The stables at Pitfour is a listed building and deemed to be at high risk by Historic Scotland.
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