The Old Post Office With Attached Plinth And Gate Piers

The Old Post Office, with an attached plinth and gate piers, is a house dating from the early to mid-18th century that was adapted as a bakery around 1870. It was altered around 1880 by Robert Griffiths for Thomas Fletcher Twemlow as part of a project to standardize the buildings of the Betley estate. There have been additional alterations and additions in the early, mid, and late 20th century.

The building is constructed of red brick and features a plain tile roof with a single gable and two ridge-coped brick stacks. It has a plinth and stands three storeys tall with four bays. The windows are primarily 19th-century three-light casements with segmental heads. On the right side, there is a square bay window from around 1903, which includes a four-light cross casement and an integral porch with a six-panel door and overlight. The eaves are adorned with modillion woodwork, and there is a turned balustrade on the balcony. To the left, there are two windows, and above them, there is an off-centre blank wall flanked by two windows on the left and a French window on the right, all in a similar style. The upper floor features three windows. At the rear, there is a full-width lean-to from the 19th century, with a mid-20th-century flat-roofed addition above the former ovens in the center. The ground floor and second floor on the right have 19th-century segment-headed windows.

Inside, the central ground floor room has two chamfered spine beams and a brick hearth with a bressummer that has stops. The room to the right features a chamfered span beam and exposed joists, incorporating a former side passage. The first floor includes chamfered and plain beams, one with a stop, and a 19th-century hob grate. The second floor was refitted in the late 20th century and contains several late 18th-century board doors.

The exterior features a chamfered blue brick plinth that once had railings across its full width, along with a pair of square brick gate piers topped with pyramidal stone caps.