About this objectStoke Stable is reputed to have been built in 1849 by convict labour (CHVS 1981: 10; Kass 2003). The building originally functioned as the stable for Stoke Hotel and was later used as a blacksmith’s shop.
Purchased by the Carcoar and District Historical Society (CDHS) in 1968 for $1.00, the building was subsequently restored using stone from the former ‘Australian Arms Hotel’ (CHVS 1981: 10, originally situated in Mandurama St, Carcoar. Under the aegis of the CDHS, Stoke Stable has been used (discontinuously) since 1968 as a museum. It is currently listed in the Blayney Local Environmental Plan (LEP).
The building features in Perumal and Murphy’s (1991) inventory as item 230 in which it is regarded as making a positive contribution to the streetscape and a ‘good example of the particular building technique of the period’ in a ‘prominent location near Village centre’ (Perumal Murphy 1991). Casey and Higginbotham (1991: 8) draw attention to Stoke Stable’s ‘substantial nature’ as evidence of Carcoar’s early success. The presence of substantial stables here (formerly along the main southern route into the town) and at Blenheim Hall indicate the commercial prosperity of Carcoar. Central to two photographs of late Victorian Carcoar, the building is one of the most recognisable built features of the town.
Stoke Stable is an important element in Carcoar’s built heritage. It is historically important as a convict-built structure reflecting the early prosperity of the town. Aesthetically, the stable is an attractive, representative example of early architecture at Carcoar. Nevertheless, the heavily restored state of the building detracts from its significance, with much of its present fabric in fact deriving from the former Australian Arms Hotel.
