Birkhouse Cottage And Attached Upper Birkhouse Farmhouse

Birkhouse Cottage and the attached Upper Birkhouse Farmhouse is a house dating from 1647, now divided into two separate homes. It is constructed of rubble stone brought to course and features a stone slate roof. The building has two storeys and a two-room front with a timber arcade leading to a single aisle under a catslide roof at the rear, which is partly covered by a two-storey gabled kitchen wing.

The south front has a centrally placed single-storey gabled porch that includes a side entrance protecting the main doorway. This doorway features simple chamfered composite jambs and a four-centred arched lintel inscribed with the date 1647. On either side of the porch are double chamfered mullioned windows with five lights, although the right window has two mullions removed. The left window has been bricked in where a fire window once was. Above these are additional mullioned windows with two and five lights, with all mullions removed from the right window. The gable is coped with a kneeler on the left side and has two stacks at the gables, one of which is made of ashlar.

The left-hand return wall is a continuous build with the kitchen wing, which features a double chamfered mullioned window with five lights and a two-light window above it, along with a large stack at the gable. The rear outshot has chamfered mullioned windows with two and three lights, along with a two-light window in between, creating a range of seven lights, most of which are blocked. Adjacent to the aisle is a kitchen doorway with composite jambs and a depressed arched lintel.

Inside, the house features large chamfered spine beams and stop-chamfered floor joists, with scarf joints visible on the spine beams, indicating a former bressumer. A post supporting the arcade plate rests on a stylobat. The rear kitchen includes a large elliptical keyed arched fireplace, and some board and muntin panelling remains. The roof has two king post trusses and a collar for the fire-hood.