Moss Cottage

Moss Cottage is a house originally built for a cotton manufacturer, now divided into multiple residences. It was constructed in 1818, as indicated by the date on the rainwater head, with a later addition from the 19th century. The building features red brick, which has recently been cleaned of paint, with sandstone dressings and slate roofs.

The structure consists of two distinct parts: the original small villa, which is double-depth and double-fronted, and a larger crosswing added to the left. The villa is designed in the Regency Gothick style and is symmetrical, with two storeys and three windows across the front. It has a moulded, four-centred arched doorway at the centre, which features a recessed studded plank door and flanking arched niches. Above the doorway is a tall two-light window, and there are two three-light windows on each floor, all with arched lights. The ground floor windows have hoodmoulds. The roof is shallow hipped with slightly swept eaves and has side-wall chimneys. The right-hand return wall has three similar windows on the ground floor and two above, all with two lights. The rear includes a pointed arched doorway and a tall stair window.

The added wing is larger and designed in a neo-Tudor style, featuring a gabled facade with kneelers and finials. It has a large canted bay window with mullions and transoms at ground floor, adorned with a pierced traceried parapet. The first floor has two cross-windows, and there is a three-light mullioned window in the attic, all with hoodmoulds. The roof of this wing is steeply pitched and has clustered and corniced stone chimneys on a square stack. The long left return wall, styled similarly, includes a shallow gabled wing.

Historically, Moss Cottage was built for William Taylor, who was the manager of Horrocks's Moss Mill and later owned the former Tulketh Mill. He was a prominent figure in the town until his death in 1852.