The Cottage

The Cottage is a house that was originally a farmhouse, built in the 18th century and remodeled in 1912 by Alan James for F.E. Smith, the first Earl of Birkenhead. The building features coursed limestone and ironstone rubble with ironstone dressings, a slate roof, and brick stacks, showcasing a revived late 17th-century style. It stands two storeys high with an attic and has 11 bays.

The central three-bay section is framed by giant pilasters and originally had a central doorway, which has been converted into a window, topped with a stone segmental pediment. The windows are two-light wood mullioned and transomed, set in plain stone frames. A bronze plaque dated 1912 is positioned above the doorway, along with a bronze cherub in a niche. On either side of the central section are stone plaques with the initials F.E.S. and M.E.S. The building features a deeply moulded entablature and a steeply pitched roof with large flanking stacks, as well as dormers with flat lead roofs. All windows are fitted with leaded panes.

The flanking wings are of unequal height. The left wing is two storeys and an attic with three bays, featuring two-light wood mullioned and transomed windows in stone frames on the ground floor and casement windows with wood lintels above. The dormers in this wing are similar to those in the central block. The right wing, also two storeys and an attic, has five bays. The doorway in the second bay from the left, dating from around 1950, has a door with two fielded panels and a porch supported by stone Tuscan columns, topped with a wooden open segmental pediment. This wing also has two-light wood mullioned and transomed windows with wood lintels on both floors. The rear elevation is characterized by three gables. The interior has not been inspected.