7, Blanch Croft

No. 7 Blanch Croft is a house and textile workshop, likely dating to around 1800, with minor alterations from the 19th century. It is constructed of red brick with a slated roof and gable stacks. The building is approximately one and a half bays deep. The north-west elevation has two storeys and two bays, with a combined door and window opening to the south-west, set beneath a shallow segmental brick arch. A 20th-century six-panel door and window frame are present. To the right is a two-light horizontal sliding sash window, each light containing 12 panes, also beneath a segmental brick arch. A plain planked door to the left provides access to a separate, integral store, potentially formerly heated. The first-floor frame shop window was originally a single opening, now divided into three three-light windows, each light with four panes, with the central light opening. Brickwork blocking indicates the previous single opening. A dog-toothed eaves course runs along the elevation. The rear elevation features an off-centre doorway below a segmental arch, leading to a four-panel door, with the upper panels now glazed. Flanking the doorway are two-light windows, each light with four panes. These earlier frames incorporate single opening hopper lights. Ground-floor openings have wedge lintels with integral advanced keyblocks, while upper openings are set within plain surrounds, all below the dog-toothed eaves course.

Inside, the rear doorway opens onto a shallow lobby at the foot of an unusually wide stairway, designed to provide access to the frame shop. Ground-floor rooms retain many original features, including panelled cupboard doors with original ironmongery, skirtings, and dado rails. One room has a 19th-century hearth with a grate and cornice mantel shelf. The two chambers above similarly retain their hearths, and though the former frame shop has been subdivided, its original extent remains visible. Further features include two ledged and braced doors and two two-panel doors, all set within pegged surrounds. No. 7 Blanch Croft represents a near-complete example of a textile outworkshop integrated into a dwelling within a growing settlement significantly impacted by the textile industry around 1800.