Seaton Holme

Seaton Holme is a building of group value, originally a rectory, with a history of use as a house of high social standing and local authority offices between approximately 1930 and 1970. The building originates from the 13th or early 14th century, with significant alterations and additions dating from around 1600, the late 18th century, and the early to mid-19th century. It is constructed of limewashed sandstone and limestone rubble, with dressed sandstone buttresses, quoins, and chimneys, alongside renewed brick stacks and steeply pitched 19th and 20th century Welsh slate roofs.

The building follows a rough H-plan, comprising an original hall with a parlour bay and a cross-wing to the right, with a further cross-wing added around 1600 to the left of the hall range. The street facade is arranged in three plus four plus one plus two bays, over two storeys.

The hall range itself dates from the 13th or early 14th century, displaying four bays and featuring two narrow stepped buttresses to the front and rear, with a doorway located in the left bay. A major overhaul in the late 18th century saw the insertion of 12-pane sash windows and the renewal of the hall roof. A low parapet conceals the eaves. The rear elevation has scattered window openings, including several 12 and 16-pane sashes, along with a 19th-century 2-light window with round-arched heads. 20th-century brick gable stacks are present.

The projecting step-gabled cross-wing to the right of the hall range, also dating from the 13th or early 14th century, presents a single bay and similarly features two narrow stepped buttresses to front and rear. The roof was entirely renewed around 1600 and is of a curved-principal-rafter construction. Two 16-pane sashes are accompanied by a doorway to the left. Traces of a large first-floor lancet window are visible to the rear. An early 19th-century wing of two bays is attached to the right, exhibiting three 16-pane sashes and a moderate-pitch roof.

The projecting cross-wing to the left of the hall range was constructed around 1600, with the street frontage and left return rebuilt in the early 19th century, presenting three bays. It features a chamfered plinth and dressed quoins. The ground floor has two 16-pane sash windows and three above, all with chamfered reveals. The first floor windows have projecting sills. A cornice is topped with a low parapet. A small gable stack projects slightly beyond the gable and rests on a row of three corbels. The left return and rear elevations have renewed 19th-century fenestration in a Tudor style. A Tudor-arched doorway at the rear is also from the 19th century and may incorporate older stonework. The remains of a curved-principal-rafter roof are evident.

Inside, the hall range contains a late 18th-century staircase. The cross wing to the right has two doorways that open onto a former screens passage.