Details
TARPORLEY
1035/0/10003 HIGH STREET
22-SEP-06 The Old Police Station
II
Former police station, 1909, Tudor style, mellow red brick, pink sandstone dressings and banding detail, 2 storey, red tile roof variously pitched and hipped.
EXTERIOR: W front elevation of main building (public office and Superintendent's residence) facing High Street and S elevation facing Park Road both with chamfered stone mullioned windows to each floor, sandstone quoined surrounds, some with hoodmoulds. Cast-iron rainwater goods.
W front elevation: 3-bay, central bay projects slightly forward, surmounted by ornamental gablet with sandstone copings and kneelers. Large sandstone relief to centre of gablet reads 'COUNTY CONSTABULARY'. Tall mullioned windows to ground floor, 3-lights to central bay flanked by 2-light windows either side, that to S still retaining leaded glazing, those to N with replaced plain glazing. Pattern repeated to first floor but with slightly shorter windows, all with leaded glazing. Two substantial ridge stacks to N gable end and centre of ridge with further stack to rear of building. Single storey public entrance to far N end of W elevation comprises recessed round-arched sandstone doorway with decorative floral motifs, blue timber plank door with integral 3-light leaded glass fanlight.
S elevation: 2 bay, ground floor canted bay sandstone window to W end, tall 4-light mullioned window above, gable with sandstone copings and kneelers as before. Small square sandstone relief to centre of gable depicts crest of Cheshire Constabulary and date 'A 1909 D'. E end of elevation projects forward, pitched roof lying on an E-W axis, roof of W return of projection is hipped. Ground floor entrance to Superintendent's house in same design as public entrance but with central letterbox.
N elevation: Gable end of main building and single storey section to rear containing cells and holding area. Flat-arched window with sandstone sill and lintel, cast-iron glazing and bars, provides light into cell corridor.
Rear: timber mullion and transomed windows to first floor, casement windows and door to S end of ground floor. Number of outbuildings in small rear courtyard inaccessible due to heavy vegetation.
INTERIOR: Largely unaltered since construction. Original panelled doors, architraves, skirtings, timber board and parquet floors throughout. Ground floor separated into three areas: station (public) office, cell area, and Superintendent's residence.
Public entrance on High Street leads to small vestibule with enquiries hatch, small office behind, large main office with original parquet floor, built-in cupboards and fireplace. Door in E wall of main office leads to cell area: two brick-vaulted corridors, cement floors, glazed ceramic brick walls; one corridor running W-E (holding area) to rear of building and back door where prisoners were transferred in and out of building via the stone steps in the rear yard area and gate on Park Road; one running N-S containing three cells with segmental arched doorways. Original iron corridor gate, cell at N end with original cell door, wooden bunk, toilet, iron barred flat-arched window set high in wall. Bunks removed, glazing replaced to two remaining cells, one of which also partitioned.
Segmental arched doorway, inserted moulded architrave, and panelled door in S wall of holding area leads to ground floor hallway of Superintendent's residence and S entrance door. W side of hallway: main living room, canted bay window, original parquet floor, skirting, fireplace replaced by mid C20 version. E of hallway: smaller room, probably originally the kitchen, with replaced fireplace. Door to SE corner of room leads to small pantry area with sink. Door leading to rear yard area.
Timber open well stair by S entrance up to first floor bedrooms. First floor: corridor to E side, three bedrooms off to W side all with cast-iron fireplaces, skirtings, oak flooring, moulded architraves, panelled doors, picture rails. Storage room to N end of hall, bathroom to E, toilet to S end of hall.
The original sandstone gate piers, cast-iron gates (painted blue), brick boundary wall with sandstone copings and cast-iron railings surmounted on top (painted blue) enclosing the property to the W and S, stone steps to the rear of the property and cast-iron gateway (painted blue) adjacent to the electricity sub station on Park Road are also included in the listing.
HISTORY: The current police station building was built in 1909 to replace an earlier smaller station that occupied the same site on land provided specifically for community use and donated by the owner of nearby Ardene Hall, the 11th Earl of Haddington in the C19.
The building had dual purpose, in being used both as a police station with 3/4 constables and also as the Superintendent's residence. It remained in use until c.1980s when it became surplus to requirements in the restructuring of the local police force. Since then it has been used as a store and has now (2006) passed into private ownership. It remains virtually unaltered since its original construction.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: This former police station dating to 1909 replaces an earlier smaller station on the same site. Having ceased active use c.1980s the former police station is a unique time capsule of an early C20 rural station incorporating police accommodation, cells and public office; having been unaltered since its original construction except for the removal of two ground floor fireplaces and partitioning of one cell. Internal space division separating the public, police and prisoners is clearly readable within the station, and externally, through the use of separate entrances and varying constructional and architectural styles with more functional materials, such as cement floor used in the cell areas and more refined features and decorative elements, such as cast-iron fireplaces and canted bay windows with leaded lights incorporated into the Superintendent's residence. Of particular note is the survival of the original cell areas with brick vaulted ceilings, and one complete cell with original metal door and hatch, high barred window, and bunk.
The station also has strong group value with the adjacent 1865 former fire station (one of the earliest volunteer fire brigade stations in the country) and 1869 hearse house, forming a small and unique group of civic buildings constructed on land in the village centre donated in the C19 by the 11th Earl of Haddington specifically for the purposes of community use.
