The Old Police Station

The Old Police Station, Tarporley

A former police station built in 1909 in Tudor style, constructed of mellow red brick with pink sandstone dressings and banding detail. The building is two storeys high with a red tile roof of varied pitching and hipped sections.

The building originally served a dual purpose as both a police station housing three or four constables and as the Superintendent's residence. It was built to replace an earlier, smaller station that occupied the same site, on land donated in the 19th century by the 11th Earl of Haddington, owner of nearby Ardene Hall, specifically for community use.

The west front elevation facing High Street and the south elevation facing Park Road both feature chamfered stone mullioned windows on each floor, with sandstone quoined surrounds, some topped with hoodmoulds. The building is fitted with cast-iron rainwater goods.

The west front comprises three bays, with the central bay projecting slightly forward and surmounted by an ornamental gablet with sandstone copings and kneelers. A large sandstone relief carved with the words "COUNTY CONSTABULARY" sits at the centre of the gablet. The ground floor has tall mullioned windows of three lights to the central bay, flanked by two-light windows either side. The south window retains original leaded glazing, while the north windows have replacement plain glazing. The first floor repeats this pattern with slightly shorter windows, all retaining leaded glazing. Two substantial ridge stacks are positioned at the north gable end and centre of the ridge, with a further stack to the rear. A single-storey public entrance at the far north end of the west elevation comprises a recessed round-arched sandstone doorway with decorative floral motifs, fitted with a blue timber plank door incorporating a three-light leaded glass fanlight.

The south elevation comprises two bays. At the west end, the ground floor has a canted bay sandstone window with a tall four-light mullioned window above it. A gable with sandstone copings and kneelers matches the west elevation design. A small square sandstone relief at the centre of the gable depicts the crest of Cheshire Constabulary and the date "A 1909 D". The east end of this elevation projects forward, its roof running on an east-west axis with the west return of the projection hipped. The ground floor entrance to the Superintendent's house follows the same design as the public entrance but includes a central letterbox.

The north elevation shows the gable end of the main building and a single-storey rear section containing cells and a holding area. A flat-arched window with sandstone sill and lintel, fitted with cast-iron glazing and bars, provides light to the cell corridor. The rear of the building has timber mullion and transomed windows to the first floor, with casement windows and a door at the south end of the ground floor. Several outbuildings occupy a small rear courtyard, currently inaccessible due to heavy vegetation.

The interior remains largely unaltered since construction. The ground floor is divided into three distinct areas: the station (public) office, the cell area, and the Superintendent's residence. Original panelled doors, architraves, skirtings, timber board and parquet floors are throughout.

The public entrance from High Street leads into a small vestibule with an enquiries hatch, a small office beyond, and a large main office with the original parquet floor, built-in cupboards and fireplace. A door in the east wall of the main office opens to the cell area, containing two brick-vaulted corridors with cement floors and glazed ceramic brick walls. One corridor runs west to east as a holding area to the rear of the building, where a back door and stone steps in the rear yard area lead to a gate on Park Road used for prisoner transfers. The other corridor runs north to south and contains three cells with segmental arched doorways. The cell at the north end retains its original metal door, wooden bunk, toilet, and iron-barred flat-arched window set high in the wall. Bunks have been removed from the other cells, their glazing replaced, and one cell has been partitioned. A segmental arched doorway with inserted moulded architrave and panelled door in the south wall of the holding area leads to the ground floor hallway of the Superintendent's residence and the south entrance door.

The west side of the hallway contains the main living room with a canted bay window, original parquet floor and skirting. The fireplace has been replaced with a mid-20th-century version. To the east of the hallway is a smaller room, probably originally the kitchen, with a replaced fireplace. A door from the southeast corner leads to a small pantry area with sink. Another door provides access to the rear yard. A timber open well stair by the south entrance ascends to the first floor bedrooms.

The first floor contains a corridor along the east side with three bedrooms off to the west, each fitted with cast-iron fireplaces, skirtings, oak flooring, moulded architraves, panelled doors and picture rails. A storage room occupies the north end of the hall, with a bathroom to the east and toilet to the south end.

The property's original sandstone gate piers, cast-iron gates painted blue, brick boundary wall with sandstone copings and cast-iron railings painted blue, stone steps to the rear, and cast-iron gateway painted blue adjacent to the electricity sub-station on Park Road are all included in the listing.

The building remained in active use until approximately the 1980s, when it became surplus to requirements following restructuring of the local police force. It subsequently served as a store and has since passed into private ownership as of 2006. The building survives virtually unaltered from its original construction, except for the removal of two ground-floor fireplaces and the partitioning of one cell.

The survival of the original cell areas with brick-vaulted ceilings is particularly notable, as is the preservation of one complete cell with its original metal door and hatch, high barred window and bunk. The internal space division separating public, police and prisoner areas remains clearly legible, evidenced by separate entrances and differing constructional and architectural styles: more functional materials such as cement floors in the cell areas contrast with more refined features and decorative elements including cast-iron fireplaces and canted bay windows with leaded lights in the Superintendent's residence.

The building holds strong group value with the adjacent former fire station of 1865 (one of the earliest volunteer fire brigade stations in the country) and the hearse house of 1869, forming a small and unique ensemble of civic buildings constructed on land in the village centre donated in the 19th century by the 11th Earl of Haddington specifically for community use.