Copley Cottages And Attached Estate Wall

Copley Cottages and Attached Estate Wall

Estate workers' cottages built circa 1866–68 for the Copley estate, constructed in rock-faced red sandstone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof featuring a decorative ridge crest. The building displays simplified Gothic style with Scottish baronial influences and stands two storeys high.

The cottages are situated to the right of the estate yard entrance and externally appear as a single building with a double pile plan. Two gables to the front form No. 1 Copley Cottages, while a rear gabled range running parallel to Manor Road comprises No. 2.

The front (west) elevation features two gabled bays belonging to No. 1, with recessed stone mullion windows containing 1-over-1 sashes set in ashlar surrounds with chamfered reveals. A corbel table runs along the eaves line. Distinct stone banding detail marks the junction between floors on the front and right side elevation. The main entrance doorway to the ground floor on the right has a lantern overhead and chamfered surround with lintel. A segmental pointed window lights the first floor above. The left bay contains a 3-light window to the ground floor and a 2-light window to the first floor. A converted outshut to the left features an inserted modern window and door, with an inserted window to the left return. The rear elevation facing Manor Road is largely blind except for an inserted 20th-century window to the ground floor on the right.

The right side (south) elevation facing into the yard entrance comprises two bays. The gabled right bay contains the main entrance to No. 2 in matching style, with a 4-panel door with relief panels, a 3-light window to the left, and a 2-light window above. The left bay belonging to No. 1 has a 3-light window to the ground floor. The rear gabled bay of No. 2 features a similarly detailed doorway. A 20th-century partly glazed brick and timber porch has been added, with a 3-light window to the right (upper right sash with inserted vent) and a 2-light window to the first floor (upper right sash replaced).

Internally, each cottage contains two rooms per floor, with two additional rooms in the converted outshut to No. 1. Two ground floor rooms to the right side retain original corner fireplaces; that to No. 2 has a segmental pointed opening. The cottages retain 4-panel doors and plain timber stairs, though the balusters to No. 1 have been covered with plywood and may have been removed.

A high estate boundary wall with copings is attached to the right (north) of the rear elevation. A panelled timber pedestrian gate and stone gate pier are attached to the left (south) at the yard entrance. A corresponding gate pier opposite is attached to the garage and potting shed range, though the original gates have been removed.

Copley estate was developed circa 1866–68 as a private residence to designs by an unknown architect, believed to have been built for Stephen Williamson, Scottish Member of Parliament, whose son Archibald Williamson later became Baron Forres in 1922. The estate was subsequently purchased by the 1st Viscount Leverhulme, who owned the neighbouring Thornton Manor and acquired the property largely for its land. The house and associated buildings were later resold. Following the Second World War, when the house briefly served as a corn exchange, the estate was purchased by the 2nd Viscount Leverhulme around 1947. The buildings remain in residential use.