West Henstill House

West Henstill House is a farmhouse, now a house, dating from the 16th century and altered around 1920. It is constructed from plastered cob and rubble, with a stack made of small squared blocks of volcanic stone topped with early 20th-century brick, and features a thatched roof. Originally, it was a three-room-and-through-passage house facing southeast, with the inner room located at the left (southwest) end. Around 1920, a service room was demolished, and a rear service wing was built behind the passage and hall. The house has a large projecting lateral stack at the front of the hall and a 19th-century outshot on the left end. It now stands at two storeys with an irregular two-window front, featuring late 19th to early 20th-century casements with glazing bars. The front of the hall, which includes a window on each floor, is set forward flush with the front of the hall stack on the right and has a small ground floor side-light. Both first-floor windows are adorned with thatched gables. The hall stack retains its original late 16th-century volcanic stone chimney shaft with projecting coping, now topped with early 20th-century brick. The passage door is located at the right end. The roof is half-hipped on the left and gabled on the right, with the right end wall built of volcanic rubble with brick dressings from around 1920. The interior is notable, featuring a 16th-century oak plank-and-muntin screen from the passage to the hall, which has a moulded head beam. The hall fireplace lintel and hall are crossbeam chamfered with worn, indistinct stops, and there is a full-height cob crosswall between the hall and the inner room. The hall roof is supported by a side-pegged jointed cruck roof, although the roof space is inaccessible.