Moat House Farmhouse

Moat House Farmhouse is a house dating to the late 16th century, with significant remodelling and alterations in the 1830s. It is located on Moat House Lane, Shustoke. The building exhibits timber-framing to the cross-wing, with 19th-century red brick casing and rebuilding of part of the main range. The roof is covered in plain tiles, and there is a projecting side stack on the cross-wing. The construction incorporates coursed and squared sandstone with a moulded stone string and three detached red brick stacks set diagonally. A sundial is incised in the sandstone of a chimney, and similar squared and coursed sandstone is used for a stack of the main range, the upper portion of which is red brick. The sandstone forms part of the east wall of the main range. The house has a "T" plan, featuring a cross-passage at the rear of the chimney in the main range.

The main range is two storeys high and has one flush frame small-pane casement and another of three lights at the first floor, alongside a doorway to the cross-passage with a boarded door and a rectangular fanlight at ground floor. Two 19th-century wood casements are positioned under segmental arches, with small panes on either side of the kitchen doorway. The cross-wing, at the south end, is also two storeys high and has an attic. The gable end features segmental header arches above a small pane wood casement to the attic, as well as two slightly larger windows at the first and ground floors.

The interior of the main range includes an inglenook hearth from the early 17th century. A main beam bears an ogee-moulding reminiscent of Holliars Farmhouse, Church Road, Shustoke, which is dated 1641. Adjacent to this room is a partitioned service area. The cross-wing was likely a parlour cross-wing, representing the original house on the site. Internally, the timber framing is visible, showing vertical studwork with close centres of substantial scantling. Ground floor studs are double pegged. The layout comprises a two-bay plan with an original, substantial partition wall to the centre truss. Moulded main beams have an ogee-moulding similar to that in the main range and at Holliars Farmhouse. Framing is also visible at the first floor. An original doorway, now blocked, is found in the partition wall at first floor. The roof is a through-purlin construction with two tiers of purlins, trenched over the backs of the principals, and includes wind bracing to the lower tier. A tie beam has arch bracing and struts between the collar and tie-beam, while the main posts have jowled heads. Several internal doors retain strap hinges with fleur-de-lys ends. The house is situated on a moated site and was purchased in the late 17th or early 18th century by Thomas Huntbach to endow the school and hospital at Church End, Shustoke.