St Mary's Cottage

St Mary's Cottage is a house built around 1871, located in Newbold Astbury. The structure is made of shuttered concrete and features a plain tile roof. It stands two storeys high. The entrance front has two bays; on the left, there is a panelled front door flanked by trefoil-headed panels, with metal window frames that have honeycomb-patterned glazing bars. To the right of the door is a four-light window on the ground floor. On the first floor, there is a central lancet light and a canted oriel window from the 20th century, supported by a stone corbel, located in the gable to the right.

The right side of the cottage has a projecting gabled wing on the left, which contains a three-light casement window on the first floor. To the right, there is a 20th-century lean-to porch, behind which is a doorway with single-light windows on either side. At the far right, there is a brick addition that has been rendered to mimic the concrete blocks on the left, featuring a two-light window on the ground floor and two matching dormer windows above, each with two lights. A ridge chimney stack is positioned to the left of centre. The left gable end has a three-light casement window on the first floor.

Inside, the cottage features 17th-century panelling. It was originally built as a curate's house for the Church of St Mary in Newbold Astbury. The unique concrete shuttering used in its construction was designed to imitate blocks of coursed rubble, with wooden strips creating the appearance of masonry joints. Hessian was placed against this framework, and concrete was poured into the hollow space, causing it to bulge slightly. The joints were then grouted with mortar to enhance the illusion.