The Milkhope Centre

The Milkhope Centre comprises a group of byres, shelter sheds, barns, and storerooms with a covered yard, dated 1865 on a panel in the pedimented central gable of the south block. The buildings are constructed of snecked, tooled sandstone with tooled-and-margined flush lintels and cills, and chamfered alternate-block jambs, featuring stone eaves corbels and Welsh slate roofs with stone copings. The layout consists of two adjoining T-shaped north ranges, with wings projecting to the south, linked by tall, ramped rear walls to flanking shelter sheds. A covered yard is situated on the west side of the western range. The south wing of the eastern range is flanked by parallel wings, the one to the east being longer, with louvred, raised roof ridges. A shallow T-shaped range, running northwards from the centre, forms the central part of the composition. This, along with the shelter sheds, is single-storey, while the central blocks are two-storey. A segmental-arched, rebated cart entrance is centrally located within a projecting panel of the south block. Similar entrances, without projections, are present in the gable end walls and south ends of the shelter sheds. The shelter sheds have full-height spine walls, except in the southern bays, and 7-bay segmental arcades on either side. The wings projecting from the central blocks contain square-headed doors and small-paned windows, some of which have been replaced. The rear (north) elevation exhibits two main blocks, the right slightly lower. The left block has five bays, with central sliding wagon doors and replaced casements in original openings; a blocked loading door is found at the right. The right block features nine closely-set windows above and three below, all in original openings, alongside a boarded door. Flanking walls, containing blocked segmental cart arches, lead to the blank north ends of the shelter sheds. The buildings were undergoing alteration to use as workshops at the time of survey. Alterations included glazing some of the segmental-arched openings, partially filling others, and replacing doors and windows. Four matching segmental arches were to be inserted to flank the central door, but the basic design of the group was expected to remain largely intact. The group is included in the list as an unusually large example of a planned 19th-century cattle farm. There are no internal fittings of note.