Stert

House. Early to mid 18th century, possibly with earlier origins, rearranged internally and extended at the rear in the early 19th century. Built of local slate rubble with slate hung cladding at the rear. Asbestos slate roof with gabled ends over the rear addition. The front range has gable end stacks with later red brick shafts, and a large stone axial stack over the back range.

The 18th-century house formed the front (north) range with a 2-room plan and a moderately wide central entrance hall containing the stairs. The two rooms served as principal rooms, and a service wing probably existed at the back. This may have been incorporated into a parallel range constructed at the back of the house in the early 19th century to form a double-depth plan, or the entire back range may be an early 19th-century replacement for 18th-century service rooms. The back range rooms in the early 19th century likely comprised a servants hall at the left (probably the former kitchen), kitchen at the centre, and pantry at the right. The early 19th-century remodelling included refenestration of the front range, insertion of an early 19th-century geometric staircase in the entrance hall, and early 19th-century joinery on the ground floor, though the first floor joinery is 18th-century. A non-conformist chapel at the right hand end of the house was demolished in the mid 20th century; it was recorded as an 18th-century structure with a moulded plaster ceiling and was disused at the time of its removal.

The exterior presents two storeys with an almost symmetrical 3-window front range featuring a plain stone string course at first floor level and a moulded stone eaves cornice. The ground and first floors have symmetrical diagonal early 19th-century tripartite sashes with 9-pane centre lights and 3-pane side lights. To the left of centre on the first floor is an early 19th-century 9-pane sash. Ground floor windows have flat slate arches; first floor windows have wooden lintels clad in slate. All windows have thin slate cills. The doorway to the left of centre has an early 19th-century 6-panel door with flush bottom panels and glazed top panels, with a 20th-century slate stone gabled porch. The left hand side of the house is rendered and features an early 19th-century tripartite sash with glazing bars in the rear wing. The right hand gable end is partly hung in asbestos slates. The back range is clad in natural slate hung above ground floor window cill level. The rear elevation is a slightly asymmetrical 3-window range with 3-light casements; the centre ground floor and left hand first floor windows are 20th-century, while the right hand first floor has an early 19th-century 16-pane sash. The ground floor left features a 20th-century glazed door. To the right of centre is an early 19th-century large stone rubble porch with a hipped slate roof and side entrance.

The interior contains a small wooden early 19th-century geometric staircase in the central entrance hall, featuring square stuck balusters, column newels, a wreathed handrail, and an open string with shaped tread ends. The front left hand room has an early 19th-century Devonian limestone (marble) chimneypiece, an 18th-century moulded plaster ceiling cornice, and an elliptical arch recess on the rear wall containing a doorway. The front right hand room has a 19th-century moulded ceiling cornice, though the chimneypiece has been removed. All early 19th-century joinery on the ground floor remains intact, including 6-panel doors with moulded panels. The first floor has fielded 6-panel doors to the main rooms and fielded 2-panel doors to the servants chambers. One rear first floor room has an early 19th-century reeded chimneypiece with an iron grate. The dog-leg back stairs feature stuck balusters and column newels. The roof over the front north range has collars halved and pegged to the faces of straight rafters which are lapped and pegged at the apex.

Stert was the property of the Heles family until 1835.