Loggia, summerhouse and associated staircases in Rivington Gardens at SD 6392 1431

PLAN: a loggia and a summerhouse built from 1906 to a design by Thomas Mawson for Lord Leverhulme together with the stone staircases and flanking walls associated with and connecting both these buildings. All these features are built of gritstone with stone dressings and both buildings are rectangular in plan.

EXTERIOR: the loggia overlooks a former swimming pool/boating lake to the south and is accessed up a short flight of steps on the south side. It contains three semi-circular arches on its south elevation and one on its west, all of which spring from moulded imposts carried on columns of thin, stacked gritstone. The voussoirs are of thin gritstone slates. Above is a thin cornice carried around the loggia and above this is an altered parapet about 1 metre high surrounding a flat viewing deck accessed from its east side. A stone staircase with associated flanking walls lead from a path on the loggia's south side uphill in an L-shaped manner to the entrance to the viewing deck. From here a short length of paved path with flanking walls turns east then a staircase with flanking walls continues uphill to a summer house.

The single-storey flat-roofed summerhouse is accessed from the west up a short flight of steps and has a central rectangular entrance flanked by columns of thin, stacked gritstone. Slightly protruding bays to either side each have a centrally-placed rectangular window openings with rock-faced gritstone surrounds. Staircases with associated flanking walls lead upward around the north, south and rear sides of the summerhouse and gave access to a viewing deck on the roof from where the former parapet has been removed.

INTERIOR: access to the interior and the viewing decks of both the loggia and the summerhouse is blocked by iron railings.