Birchencliff Farmhouse Farmbuilding And The Cottage, Numbers 1 And 2 Birchencliff

Birchencliff Farmhouse, farmbuilding and the cottage, at Numbers 1 and 2 Birchencliff, dates from the early 19th century, likely around 1825, and represents a model farm, serving as the home farm for Shrigley Park, which was rebuilt by Sir W Turner around 1825. Similar elements are also found at Redacre Hall, another estate farm.

The farmhouse itself is a 2-storey, symmetrical 3-bay structure constructed of washed and pebble-dashed rubble with sandstone dressings, topped by a Kerridge stone-slate roof and featuring two stone gable chimneys. The windows are plain sashes without glazing bars, and the front entrance is distinguished by a semi-circular stone doorcase with a raised keystone, springers, and a fanlight with radial glazing bars, enclosing a 6-panelled door. The farmhouse was described as much altered during an inspection in 1979.

The farmhouse occupies the eastern corner of a courtyard of buildings surrounding a rectangular, stone-edged pond. These buildings are constructed from yellow sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings and stone-slate roofs. A north-east range includes a 2-storey building to the left, incorporating a piggery with two round-headed entrances and a loft accessible by an external stone staircase. Two 2-unit buildings, potentially cheese rooms, connect the piggery to the house. South-eastwards are the remains of two-storey barns in a state of near collapse. The south-west range fronts onto a track and features four 2-unit cottages with horizontal sliding sashes containing glazing bars, plain doorcases, a drift house with segmental arches, a similar cottage, and a 3-storey barn with a segmentally arched entry from the yard.

The north-west range is characterized by two drift houses (one collapsed), encompassing three shippons divided by feeding passages, with board doors under plain lintels, and three semi-circular headed pitch-holes above, along with a dairy and a 9-hole dovecote. A separate courtyard is attached to the north-west, divided by a low, arcaded building. The south-west range continues along the track, displaying a corn barn with an elliptical arch, a drift house, and a 4-bay stable with plain rectangular doorcases, fanlights above, and semi-circular headed openings in the upper storey. The north-west range has been reduced, partly, to a single-storey shippon, with the remainder—along with the corner—formed by a 3-storey building which contains a 4-bay ashlar carthouse with low segmental arches and square openings above. The north-east range has either been demolished or collapsed.