Sealyham

Sealyham is a country house of white-painted roughcast with slate hipped deep-eaved roofs comprising two parallel ranges, with the valley between them over-roofed in the late 20th century. It dates from 1790, as indicated by a datestone on the right end wall, though this may be a reset stone. Large rendered chimneys with raised angles sit at the left end and on the ridge to the right of centre on the front range, and on the ridge to the right of the rear range.

The front elevation displays 9 bays across 3 storeys, divided in groups of 3-3-3. The two outer sections have 12-pane sashes to the main floors, all with stucco cornices on brackets and 6-pane attic windows. Some windows have been replaced in plastic: the fourth attic window and the 5th and 6th first-floor windows. The centre section features a projected ground-floor enclosed Doric porch of 3 bays with 4 timber fluted columns and an entablature with triglyph frieze; the cornice has been removed. Pilaster responds stand behind each column, with 8-pane narrow sashes flanking double panelled doors each bearing a roundel in the mid-panel, and an 8-pane sash at each end. The first floor shows a formal arrangement of 4 pilasters with entablature, a broader centre bay with a tripartite sash under a shallow segmental arch, a 12-pane sash in the bay to the left, and an arched niche to the right. This first-floor feature rises into the attic, leaving room for small roundel windows each side of a centre window of 3 square casements arranged in a row.

The right end wall was originally a 4-window range with windows matching those on the front, though it is now partly obscured by a 20th-century 2-storey gabled addition. The attic now has two 6-pane sashes, a blank window, and a plastic window; the first floor has a plastic window and two 12-pane sashes; the ground floor retains three 12-pane sashes.

The left end has 2 parallel 2-storey service ranges. The front range has a close-eaved roof hipped to the left end with a ridge stack in the centre, forming a four-window range with two 8-pane sashes over two 12-pane sashes to the right, and two narrow 8-pane sashes over a half-glazed door and 6-pane window to the left. The end wall has a 12-pane sash over a lean-to.

The rear of the main house is 3 storeys and 7 windows wide under a single hipped roof. A 5-window range to the left contains the main rooms, while a 2-window range set back to the right houses the staircase and is shorter than the front range. Most windows are replaced. The 5-window range has plastic attic windows, metal first-floor windows, and metal French windows each side of 3 original 12-pane sashes. The staircase section has deep eaves and different floor levels: it contains 2 small attic windows, an 18-pane stair light at mid-height left, an 8-pane window set lower to the right, a door with overlight to the ground floor left (positioned higher than the main ground floor), and a long 20th-century window lower to the right. A 2-storey service wing to the right has a 4-window range with a right gable-end stack. It features four 8-pane windows above, two 20th-century imitation 12-pane sashes to the left, a 20th-century French window and an added lean-to to the right. The lean-to has 3 large 6-pane windows. The right end wall bears a door and the datestone of 1790, possibly reset. A narrow passage with glazed roof connects the service ranges.

The interior has been significantly altered, though Regency-style panelled shutters and doors survive. Those on the ground floor feature raised roundels in the middle with sunk panels above and below. The doors have 3 panels above and below and 3 roundels. The entrance hall is roughly square but opens to the porch with 2 fluted Doric timber columns and pilaster responds. The hall features a Doric triglyph frieze and a later 19th-century Bath stone Tudor-arched fireplace in a corner. A one-window space to the right appears to have formerly been part of the hall, possibly with a columned screen (the Doric frieze matches), but has been infilled in the 20th century. A two-window room beyond has no original detail. A 20th-century door from the left bay of the hall leads to the rear stair hall. The stair is a relatively plain later 18th-century dog-leg arrangement with square newels, closed strings, thick square balusters, and a relatively deep handrail. To the right of the entrance hall are double doors into a large 3-window former drawing-room with moulded cornice now concealed by 20th-century plywood. Panelled shutters with roundels matching the doors are present. A fireplace stands on the spine wall with panelled doors to the extreme left and right; the left door opens to a cupboard. The fireplace has some detail matching the shutters but may comprise reused pieces. To the rear and to the right of the rear stairs is a four-window large former dining-room, stripped of detail except for shutters with roundels to 3 windows and a metal French window to the left. A one-bay space at the south end behind the chimney wall, with a metal French window, may have been an ante-room with a door to the drawing-room.

The first floor has an axial corridor running left up steps, with 2 simple arches over the steps, continuing to the attic floor above. The roof comprises tie-beam trusses with wishbone struts, arranged as 2 parallel roofs with a separate roof over the stair, showing indications of rebuilding.