Thornton House

Thornton House is a house, now divided into five separate residences, built in 1895 by Grayson and Ould. A northern extension was added in 1906 by J. Lomax Simpson. The house was commissioned for James Darcy Lever. It is constructed of stone with a timber-framed first floor, covered by a stone slate roof.

The garden front has two storeys and seven bays. The end bays project forward beneath jettied gables, with canted ground floors. The third and fifth bays have smaller, similar windows with leaded glazing. The ground floor features double-chamfered-mullioned windows, the lights with cusped round heads. The sixth bay has a segmental-headed recess containing a bench. First-floor windows are transomed. The end bays have six-light canted oriels; the third and fifth bays have five-light oriels with coved bases. There is a balcony to the second bay. The main entrance is in the fifth bay. Four cross-axial stacks feature diagonal shafts.

The front elevation, facing the road, has a service wing to the right, comprising six bays. The first four bays are stone, with drip moulds and a coped parapet with finials. The first bay projects beneath a gable, and the third bay has a two-storey canted bay window. The fourth bay projects, featuring a return porch, and the fifth bay is timber-framed with a jettied first floor and a coved jettied gable. The sixth bay also projects beneath a gable. The design of the fifth entrance bay is based on Davey Lever Hall in Lancashire. The ground floor has a canted bay window, and the first floor has four-light windows; the left-hand window is a large stair window with two transoms and bowed upper lights, corresponding with the upper lights of the other first-floor windows. A round-arched opening leads to the recessed entrance, with additional entrances in the fourth and sixth bays. The stone bays of the front façade and the seventh bay of the garden front are part of the 1906 extension. The interior retains original features, including panelling and fireplaces.