Birley House

Birley House is a large building that has been converted into offices. It dates from the late 18th century and is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, with sandstone ashlar dressings and a Welsh slate roof. The house features a symmetrical facade with three bays across the front and a lower two-bay wing set back to the left. It stands two storeys tall, with the central bay projecting forward.

The facade includes band rustication along full-height ashlar pilaster strips at each end. The central entrance has a double door with an overlight featuring geometric margin-light glazing bars, flanked by Doric pilasters. This leads to an open stone porch that has a frieze and a deep cornice, topped with central shield motifs. The outer bays contain sash windows with glazing bars, set beneath gauged-brick flat arches. There is a band at the first floor, with similar sashes above, and the central window is framed by a shouldered and eared architrave above a fielded-panel apron and cornice. A wood cornice runs along the eaves, and above the eaves of the central bay is a section of coped parapet with a sundial and end piers flanked by consoles. The roof is hipped and features two brick ridge stacks.

To the left, the single-storey porch has an arched and hooded lintel, positioned to the right of a low two-storey block with 16-pane sashes beneath wedge lintels. The right return has a tall round-headed stair window, while the left return features a tripartite sash to the right with a cambered, rusticated lintel. Inside, the entrance hall has panelled doors with applied geometric moulding, an ornate plaster cornice, and ceiling decoration. The staircase includes barley-sugar twist balusters and a wreathed handrail. There are 20th-century extensions to the right and rear that are not of special interest.