Star Cottage Star House

Star House and Star Cottage, originally an inn known as The Star, date from the early to mid-19th century and form part of the estate village created for Sir William Amcotts Ingilby. The building is constructed of coursed squared gritstone with a grey slate roof. It comprises a corner block of two storeys, with a three-bay facade to the Main Street and a five-bay facade to the Market Place, plus a lower bay to the left of the Market Place elevation. The architecture is in the Gothick style.

The Main Street facade has a plinth, and the doorway to the central bay features a four-panel door; the upper two panels have trefoil heads and interlaced glazing bars to the pointed overlight, set in a pointed-arched doorway with a double-chamfered head decorated with flower heads in relief. The chamfers terminate in shields with the Ingilby star in relief at impost level. All windows are pointed sashes with interlaced glazing bars, and the two-piece arched lintels feature a star motif, echoing the design at the doorway impost level. Square hoodmoulds are above all openings. A moulded eaves cornice and a shallow blocking course run along the top, topped by a hipped roof with four octagonal flue stacks between bays four and five. The return facade to the Market Place is similar, with a central doorway and fenestration mirroring the Main Street elevation, along with the cornice, blocking course, and hipped roof. There are two chimney stacks – one forward of the ridge to the right of the Market Place entrance, and another to the left. The lower bay to the left has a ground floor window, with rebuilt stonework at first-floor level. Access to Star Cottage is at the rear, via the right-hand return.

The building’s design incorporates flower motifs, Ingilby stars, two-piece lintels, and window forms derived from the pedestrian entrance to Ripley Gatehouse and the north range (coach house) of Ripley Castle. The Market Place facade is almost identical to that of Castle Close, differing only in chimney placement. Similar buildings in the area include Vale Lodge, Birchwood Farmhouse, and Horngarth. The Star Inn closed around 1915. The rear engineering workshops and outbuildings were originally the stables for the inn.