The Birdcage

The Birdcage is a house built in the early to mid 19th century by Valentine Powell Richards. It features rendered and painted stone rubble, with some areas slate-hung above the ground floor and thicker stone rubble walls on the more exposed seaward sides. The roof is a slate polygonal hipped design.

The building has a unique one-room polygonal plan with sides of unequal length and stands three storeys tall. The east side has a 20th-century plank door, while the west side overlooks the harbour with replacement sash windows and a small casement on the ground floor. The first floor has a 12-pane horned sash window, and the third floor features a 19th-century 3/6-hornless sash window.

Inside, there are unmoulded 19th-century ceiling beams, a 20th-century chimney-piece in front of a blocked fireplace on the ground floor, and a narrow softwood staircase from the 19th century. The Birdcage is a rare example of an unaltered one-room plan and is a detached house.