Sker House

Sker House is a large manor house, significantly remodelled in the mid-16th century. It is constructed from local sandstone rubble with ashlar detailing and slate roofs. The remodelling created a grand first-floor hall with a dais at the north end, and added three-storey wings to the east front, creating a fashionable symmetrical elevation. Tall stone stacks punctuate the exterior.

The main east front features two four-light stone mullioned and transomed windows illuminating the first-floor hall. The gabled three-storey wings also have stone mullioned windows, reducing in size from four-light on the first floor to two-light on the second floor. An attic floor is located at the north end. Blocked doors are present in the re-entrant angle; the southern one has a Tudor arch. Three-light windows similar to those on the east front are found on the outer face of the north wing, which is set at an unexplained angle and rises to a dramatic gable window framed by two tall stacks. A lower addition extends northwards to the garden wall. The rear elevation displays a large projecting stair tower with a roof parallel to the main range and incorporates a single two-light mullioned window with a label hood. A bridge section connects the second floor to a narrow rear extension of the north range, which has a monopitch roof. A four-light mullioned and transomed window illuminates the dais end of the hall, located south of the stair tower. Further ranges extend to the south, one containing a secondary stair. The south end has partially collapsed but originally featured similar stone mullioned windows, with distinctive wine-glass ogee chamfer stops. A large doorway, now blocked, once opened onto the gardens on the west side of the house. This section of the house, built in at least two phases, extends eastwards for approximately 18 metres, following the hillside, and incorporates one large blocked opening, ultimately forming the front garden wall at an angle.

The interior of the house was found to be in a very poor and dangerous condition. The NW stair rises in short flights around a rectangular newel. The hall is said to contain a plaster frieze around all four walls, depicting dragons, birds, and grapes, and originally had a plaster coved ceiling, possibly a later addition. A late 16th- to early 17th-century oak-panelled dado is present, along with a Tudor fireplace on the north side.