Framework Knitters' Cottages Now Part Of Museum Complex

These four cottages, now combined into a single cottage and part of a museum complex, were built around 1829 by a speculative builder and restored around 1970. They are constructed of red brick with pink headers, and have a pantile roof and two red brick ridge stacks. Dentil eaves are present. The cottages are arranged as two outer single cottages with a two-up, two-down layout, and a central pair of back-to-back cottages with a one-up, one-down layout. The facade has seven bays. From left to right, there is a doorway with a plank door, a tripartite glazing bar casement, a small glazing bar casement, a similar doorway and door, two tripartite casements, and a similar doorway and door. All except the small casement are set beneath segmental arches. Above are three glazing bar casements in enlarged openings, which were originally segmental arched glazing bar casements. These are the only surviving cottages of this complex, built specifically to house the workers who occupied the nearby framework knitters' workshops. Shortly after completion, one cottage was occupied by the knitter Samuel Parker; the buildings were later purchased by his son, William, also a knitter and then a hosier. A further generation of the Parker family lived on the site, vacating it in 1929.