The Aviary

The Aviary is a hunting and fishing lodge built for the 1st Earl of Ellesmere, now serving as a house. It dates from the mid-19th century and features pebble-dashed brick and timber framing, topped with slate, clay tile, and stone slate roofs. The building consists of three by four bays and has two storeys, with a picturesque tower at one corner and single-storey structures surrounding an entrance courtyard that includes stables, a gun room, and a pheasantry.

An entrance loggia with a lean-to roof separates the timber-framed first floor from the pebble-dashed ground floor. The entrance features panelled double doors flanked by casement windows. The second bay has a gabled roof with a three-light mullion and transom window on the first floor, while the third bay includes a gabled eaves dormer. The tower in the first bay is a notable feature, showcasing small oriel windows on the upper stage, coved jetties beneath gables on each side, and topped with a classical cupola and vane. Brick ridge chimney stacks have diagonally set shafts and blue header diaper patterns. The courtyard buildings display decorative patterns in fishscale tiles.

The rear elevation presents three uneven gables, one of which projects as a wing featuring a canted bay window on the ground floor with arched lights and marginal glazing bars. The left elevation includes a rustic loggia beneath a lean-to roof that wraps around a semi-circular bay window, above which is a stepped three-light window with arched heads.