Balderton Dairy

Balderton Dairy is a disused cheese factory built between 1874 and 1875 by John Douglas for the first Duke of Westminster. The building features red brick and plaster-panelled timber framing, topped with a slate roof. It is one storey with an attic and has a single-storey section. The main block consists of four bays, with additional wings on the right and at the rear left.

The first bay projects forward and contains the office, which has eight-pane iron casements and a five-light brick-mullioned window above a string course. Above this is a jettied timber-framed gable with a boarded three-light mullioned window and oversailing verges. The second bay is recessed and features a Tudor-arched doorway with a quoined sandstone surround and a boarded door on strap hinges, along with an altered window to the right and studwork beneath the eaves that includes an original stair-window. The third bay has a gabled projection with a boarded window beneath a taking-in door with an overlight and hoist. The fourth bay contains two boarded windows and studwork beneath oversailing eaves supported by struts. The roof over the office has a catslide projection over a stair outshut on the left return, with a brick ridge stack set to the rear.

The right end of the range has a hipped roof, and behind this is a large boiler-house chimney with sunken panels and an incomplete top. The side wing to the right of the main range has been altered.

On the left return, behind the office, is a hipped-roof block with oversailing eaves on struts. Beyond this is a sunken single-storey storehouse with a moulded-brick window.

Balderton Dairy is a rare example of the cheese factories that were built on Cheshire estates in the late 19th century when cheese production became a significant part of farming, with the product being transported by special trains from Cheshire to the northern industrial towns.