Gable End Cottage Whitehall Whitehall Cottages

The property is a house, largely dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, although it may have origins as far back as 1557. It has been altered and extended at various times and is now divided into three dwellings. The construction is of coursed sandstone rubble with quoins, a high stone plinth, and painted white. The roof is of stone slates and some slates, with gable copings and kneelers. There are three brick chimneys and a shortened stone chimney at the right end.

Originally with a 3/4-H plan, the house now has an L-shape with a projecting wing on the right. A re-entrant previously at the rear of the centre bay has been filled with watershot masonry. A lower 19th-century extension is attached to the left end. The main range is three storeys to the front, with two windows on each floor, mostly altered except for the top floor left, which has a three-light mullioned window, and the window below it, which contains coupled 12-light windows with glazing bars. The wing is two storeys high and features unusual tall windows with projecting moulded surrounds incorporating consoles and cornices. Other openings are of less particular interest. A blocked square opening with a similar surround is visible in the front gable. A modern porch covers the front door of the wing; it incorporates a moulded Tudor-arched chimney piece with spandrels lettered "RH" "1557” at ground level, which was originally situated over a cross-corner fireplace in the main range in 1889.

Inside, the ground floor of the original rear wall of the centre bay has a two-light stone mullioned window. Beneath the 19th-century extension at the left end is an older cellar, including a small cell with a saddle bar window. The top floor of the first bay retains original ridge and purlins. The building is reportedly the oldest house in Darwen. Internal alterations were carried out in 1984 to reduce the centre bay to two storeys.