7, 8 and 9, The Square

Nos. 7, 8, and 9 form an early 19th-century terrace of three cottages, originally designed with a symmetrical four-window frontage. The central cottage was altered in the late 19th century to become a village shop and post office. The cottages are constructed of brown brick in a Flemish bond pattern on the front elevation. They have a graded grey Welsh slate roof with flush verges to the sides and rear, and a flush softwood fascia and bargeboards to the central gable and wing fronts. There are two chimneys. A blocked circular opening is present in the central gable. No. 8 retains Georgian sash windows to the front and side. No. 9 retains one 12-pane Georgian sash window on the ground floor, and a small, square five-light bay which was formerly used as a shop window. The doors have been replaced. Upper windows to No. 9 and all windows to No. 10 have been replaced with modern casements in altered openings. A modern rear extension is attached to No. 10. These cottages are part of the late Georgian formal layout around The Square, which was intended as Edmund Yates's development of Ince as a ferry head on the Mersey estuary for passengers and goods to Liverpool. They are listed for their group value.