The Birches

The Birches is a house located on Bagthorpe Lane in Brampton, dating from the early 17th century with 19th-century alterations and additions. It is constructed of coursed Coal Measures Sandstone, featuring ashlar gritstone dressings, quoins, coped gables with moulded kneelers, and ashlar gable chimneys. The roof is stone slated.

The east elevation has two storeys and attics, comprising five bays, with the northern bay being a late 19th-century addition. There is a single-storey extension that connects the house to adjacent outbuildings. The front has a double gabled design, with stone spouts projecting from the corners and the central valley. The original 17th-century part has a four-window front, with an off-centre doorway that was remodelled in the 19th century, featuring a pointed arched head and a moulded stone surround. The door is a four-panelled design, with pointed arched heads on the two upper panels that are glazed. A 19th-century hoodmould above the doorway connects with a 17th-century string course that runs above the ground-floor windows. These windows are enlarged, two-light chamfered mullioned openings with 20th-century window frames that have top-hung lights. The first floor has four windows beneath a 17th-century string course, also enlarged but shallower than the ground-floor openings. There are blocked two-light chamfered mullioned windows in the attics, beneath hood moulds.

The west elevation features a gabled wing at the south end, with single-light 17th-century openings that once served a staircase. The rest of the rear elevation has a long catslide roof. There is a 19th-century bay to the north with stacked two-light mullioned windows in quoined surrounds, and a doorway at the north end with a chamfered quoined surround, leading to a 20th-century door with an integral fanlight.

Inside, there are some exposed ceiling beams, a plain 19th-century staircase, and a 17th-century hearth with jowelled jambs and a massive stone lintel.