Wood Bank Cottage is a late 18th century house which is reputed to have been used as Telford's drawing office during the construction of the Ellesmere Canal (renamed Llangollen Canal, 1963) and Pontcysyllte Acqueduct (1795-1805). The constricted space between the rear of the house and the canal bank suggests that the house was built before the final line of the Llangollen Feeder (1804-08) had been determined. It is shown on the 1838 Tithe Map as 'house and offices, malt kiln and croft', owned by the Ellesmere Canal Company and occupied by Thomas Butterton. The malt-house, on a site below and and to the south-east of the house, has been demolished.

A Georgian-style, 2-storey, double-fronted house built in a local rubble stone with tooled ashlar quoins. The roof has a lowish pitch, and is hipped and slated with overhanging eaves and central, red-brick, chimney-stack. The front, symmetrical facade is lit by 16-pane, horned sash windows to the ground floor, with 16-pane and 12-pane windows to the first floor. The central doorway has a wood surround and double, 3-panelled doors. There is a later, single-storey, extension to the west which incorporates some stone pillars which may have belonged to an original entrance porch.

The side elevations are plain, while there is a two-storey wing to the rear. This has a lower roof, was built in two phases, and is at right angles to the main block. The corners of the later phase of this rear wing are chamfered, and there is a curved bread oven at the junction between the two phases of the wing. There is a single-storey, lean-to extension to the west of the rear wing, which is later again.

Internally the cottage has a symmetrical plan, with a small entrance lobby backing on to the central chimney-stack. The stairs are to the rear of chimney-stack. The living room to the west has a wood-boarded floor and a plain plaster ceiling, and the dining room to the east also has wood-boarded floor and a timber joist ceiling. Both rooms have wood-surrounded fireplaces backing on to each other. The original kitchen has a quarry tiled floor, a timber joist ceiling and a wide-arched fireplace retaining the original grating. The bread oven opens off the rear extension.

(Source; Cadw listing description) S Fielding RCAHMW 08/11/2006


The service wing has been extended later beyond the kitchen to provide what is now a back-kitchen. A blocked doorway in the end wall is on the line of the present window, once extended into the first-floor, indicating alteration. This added rear part has a semi-octagonal end wall with slightly curved internal walls. It has been extended upwards in larger size stone-work, and was perhaps formerly built as a malting kiln.

Various circular structures in the canal bank may be related to brewing. The west one has a full height doorway (store?), slab floor and brick arch to front with slight dome of brick sloping to front. At the centre is a brick lined one with conical top to square chimney and brick rib 1 metre from ground, perhaps for a copper. That to the east of stone is fragmentary, having a blocked flue in stone, but no ceiling.

A demolished site to south-east is shown on the first-edition OS map of 1875, and may have been a malting kiln. The remains of stone stairs, retaining wall and various red brick window arch openings on its south-west side still survive adjacent to a modern garage.

A small building shown on the OS map to the east of the house is ruinous, but retains reset malting tiles.

Site visited as part of the Llangollen Canal survey, Geoff Ward, 06/06/2007.