Riverside Cottage

Riverside Cottage is a fishing or gamekeeper's cottage associated with the Panshanger Estate, built between 1755 and 1763, likely as part of Capability Brown's landscaping for the 2nd Earl Cowper when the main house was located at Cole Green Park. The cottage was altered, raised, and extended in the early 19th century following Humphry Repton's landscaping of the Mimram valley for the 5th Earl Cowper between 1799 and 1801, when the main house was moved north and renamed Panshanger.

The cottage is constructed of English bond red brick with later additions in Flemish bond stock brick and features a slate roof. It is a small octagonal structure with two longer sides, to which lean-to outshuts have been added, although only one is original. Originally a single-storey building, it has been raised to two storeys. At the time of inspection, all doors and windows were blocked.

The south-facing gabled entrance porch overlooks the river and has a moulded door surround. The canted elevations flanking the porch contain ground floor openings with timber sills and cambered heads, while the first floor has a central opening in stock brick beneath a weatherboarded gable. The eaves are deep boxed, and there is a central cross axial ridge stack with a hipped roof over the lean-tos. A similar arrangement of openings is found on the returns, and the rear features a central recessed entrance, with an additional entrance to the left in the early lean-to. The interior was not inspected.