Verbeer Manor House

Verbeer Manor House is a hotel, originally a substantial house, dating back to the early 16th century with late 16th-century alterations (a datestone inscribed 1598) and additions from the 1790s. The structure is built of stone and cob, plastered, and has a hipped and gabled end slate roof.

The house is comprised of a 16th-century 3-room passage house, to which a late 18th-century symmetrical 5-bay block has been added. Originally, access between the two sections was via the front door of the former through-passage, but both interiors have undergone extensive modifications during conversion into a bar space.

The main front (facing southwest) is that of the late 18th-century house, featuring a 2:1:2 bay design, with the central bay slightly projecting and topped with a separate pediment. A first-floor Venetian window is present in the central bay, featuring hornless sashes with a 4:12:4 pane layout. A porch with a pediment, entabalature on two Tuscan columns, glazed sides, and panelled reveals has a glazed and panelled door, approached by three steps. Side bays feature 12-pane hornless sash windows. The roof is hipped, and rear internal stacks are present. The late 16th-century house forms a parallel staggered rear range projecting to the right.

The hall and parlour of the 16th-century house were originally heated by external front lateral stacks; one to the hall has been partially dismantled, and the other to the parlour has tall brick shafts with two sets of offsets. A left-hand end stack is located at the service end. 2- and 3-light 19th-century casement windows are found on the front first floor, above a flat-roofed extension in the angle with the 18th-century addition, which incorporates 20th-century sash windows and French windows. The rear elevation includes barred casement windows, but also has numerous alterations and extensions from the 20th century.

Inside the 16th-century house, the hall features intersecting chamfered ceiling beams and a fireplace with a chamfered lintel. One inner room has a fireplace with continuous ovolo-moulded stone jambs and lintel. A passage screen, originally separating the rooms, has been removed. A lower-end fireplace also has a chamfered lintel with run-out stops. The roof is of two builds; the lower end is the older section, possibly lightly smoke-blackened, with two upper crucks morticed and pegged, and cranked collars, trenched purlins. The higher end features trusses halved and pegged at the apex, with upper collars having half dovetails, trenched purlins, and wind braces. The datestone, originally external, has been reset internally.