Monument record 10101/0/3 - Site of Stone Lock Cottage, Tilston

<1> Donald Insall Associates Ltd, 2024, Stone Lock Cottage, Beeston Brook, Tilston, Cheshire: Heritage, Design and Access Statement, R4824 (Client Report). SCH9744.

Heritage Statement produced in 2024 for Stone Lock Cottage prior to its proposed demolition and re-development of the site. It is an unlisted building located on the north bank of the Shropshire Union Canal adjacent to the Grade II* listed Beeston Stone Lock and Grade II listed Linkman’s Hut. The Cottage was originally a one-and-a-half storey, L-shaped building, but had been much altered/extended. Also, at time of survey, it was in poor structural condition.

The majority of locks, on both canals and rivers, were accompanied by a house or cottage where the lock keeper would live. Keepers operated the lock gates, maintained the lock and received tolls from the passing boats. The cottages were often provided rent-free in return for these services; keepers and their families frequently supplemented their income through small scale agriculture, brewing and other such occupations. Many lock cottages were purpose built, while in some instances a nearby existing property was used for the purpose. The lock cottage designs fall into two main categories: L-shaped buildings of one and a half storeys; and wide fronted, two storey buildings. The compact L-shaped keeper’s cottages on this stretch of canal typically have a modest Gothic Revival character while the wider fronted examples vary from formal Georgian to a more vernacular appearance. Along the Chester to Nantwich stretch of the canal there are three other examples of L-shaped lock cottages, these being Greenfield Lock Cottage, Christleton (not listed), Chemistry Lock Cottage (Grade II Listed) and Hoole Lane Lock Cottage (also unlisted).

The date of construction for Stone Lock Cottage is unclear, although it is thought to date from the early 19th century. Its first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1874 which shows an L-shaped building in a plot only as wide as the building. The narrow plot also contained small outbuildings or enclosures at one end, away from the cottage. The plot boundary showed distinctive “notches” adjacent to the lock gates, presumably where the towpath passed around the extended bar used to operate the gates.