Ferry House

Ferry House is a ferryman's house, now a residential property, dating from the early 18th century with some alterations. The building is primarily constructed of handmade brick, with some modern brick repairs, and features a slate roof with stone slate on the rear slope. It has a T-plan layout with two bays and a modern stair turret added to the rear of the second bay. The house is two storeys tall, with walls that have been raised and partly rebuilt in the 20th century.

The doorway is slightly offset to the right of centre and has a pegged wooden surround with a gauged brick segmental head and a boarded door. There are two cross window casements on each floor, all with segmental heads, although the glazing has been renewed. The left gable wall features one similar window on each floor, with the lower window retaining its original glazing bars. The right gable wall has a segmental-headed window at ground level, with a modern extension to the rear. A chimney is located at the right gable, and there is a large external chimney stack at the rear of the first bay, which serves the parlour.

At the rear, there is a full-height gabled stair turret with a segmental-headed casement stairlight and two small windows at ground level in the right re-entrant. Inside, the housepart is located in the second bay, with direct entry. The first bay was previously partitioned into a pantry at the front and a parlour at the rear, but is now one large room featuring a stop-chamfered beam in the parlour end. The staircase is notably fine for a house of this size, being doglegged with a moulded string, rectangular newels, turned balusters, and a moulded handrail.

Ferry House was built to accommodate the ferryman who operated the crossing of the River Douglas on the old road from Becconsall to Much Hoole.