Summer house and associated staircases in Rivington Gardens at SD 6370 1393

A summer house with associated staircases built in 1922 to a design by Thomas Mawson for Lord Leverhulme. It is built in gritstone and is rectangular in plan.

The single-storey flat-roofed summer house overlooks Breres Meadow to the west and is fronted by a semi-circular paved area edged by three steps which afford access from the adjacent woodland track. The summer house is accessed up a short flight of steps leading to a broad centrally-placed entrance that is divided into three by two pairs of columns of thin, stacked gritstone. Similar columns are located at either end of the broad entrance. Slightly protruding bays to either side of the entrance each have a centrally-placed two-light stone mullion window opening with rock-faced gritstone surrounds. Staircases with associated flanking walls lead upwards at either side of the summer house and give access to a viewing deck surrounded by a parapet on the flat roof. To the rear of the summer house a stone staircase with associated flanking walls leads eastwards up the hillside then divides into two and runs either side of a small flat viewing area before continuing uphill as a single staircase with flanking walls to reach a terraced track aligned north-south. Access to the interior of the summer house and its viewing deck is blocked by iron railings.