The Bothy

The Bothy

A garden boiler-house with chimney and gardeners' dormitory, designed in the early 1840s by Edward Blore for the 1st Earl of Ellesmere. The building has been subject to twentieth-century alterations. It is constructed of buff Hollington sandstone and red brick with slate roofs and occupies a T-plan, with a single-storey cell abutted to the south by a square chimney. The building stands to the north of the walled garden within the grounds of the former Worsley New Hall, aligned east-west, and is abutted to the west by a two-storey linear range not included in this listing.

The east wall is of random, squared, rock-faced sandstone with a projecting ashlar plinth. A projecting gabled section at the right features square kneelers supported by consoles with angled copings. Within the gable is a blind arrow-slit window with an ashlar surround quoined into the facing stonework. Below this is a doorway with a splayed lintel of soldier-stones and rendered jambs, fitted with a vertically-boarded timber door. Above the stone gable, set back, rises the brick gable of the western extension. To the left of the stone gable wall sits the side wall of a lower gabled rear outshut, which has a central blind arrow-slit window matching that of the main gable. Beyond this outshut, set further back, is the east face of the chimney. The chimney features a tall square base rising above the eaves of the outshut, with ashlar plinth, quoins and a modillion cornice. Above the base, a low ashlar band supports a slightly-tapering rock-faced shaft pierced by three vertically-aligned blind arrow-slit windows, with a string course and modillioned cornice at the crown.

The south face of the chimney mirrors the east face. The south gable of the outshut has console kneelers and a short blind window, beneath which is a three-light timber mullioned window with transom. To the left of the chimney, a lean-to outshut with shallow roof has a two-light stone-mullioned window.

The left return of the bothy is obscured by the western extension. The west face of the chimney, visible to the right, matches the south and east faces. The north wall of the bothy is of brick in Flemish bond, punctuated by two evenly-spaced three-light timber mullioned and transomed windows, with a low stone plinth beneath. The roof is covered with large slates in diminishing courses. The north face of the chimney rises centrally above the lead ridge, with two of its three blind windows visible. Towards the left, steps descend to the cellar door.

Inside, a tall plain single-height space is divided in the south-east corner by partition walls creating a room whose southern half extends into the gabled rear outshut, connected to the main space through a large semi-circular-headed archway piercing the original solid wall. A doorway in the south-west corner leads into the lean-to outshut, which has a brick vaulted ceiling. Between the two outshuts lies a void, not accessible, presumed to relate to the former functioning of the boiler. The roof space is ceiled with trusses featuring collars and tie-beams, with inward-raking struts from the collar. The slate joints are torched with lime mortar. The inner skin of the west gable is of brick, with a slit-window corresponding to that on the east gable. The cellar reportedly retains the Rochester boiler formerly used for heating the garden.