Middle Huish

Farmhouse, now private dwelling, at Instow. Originally built in the late 16th century and remodelled in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with late 20th century alterations.

The building is constructed of rendered stone rubble and cob with some brick. It has a slate roof with gable ends, and scantle slate roofing to the single-storey rear kitchen wing. A stone rubble stack with tapered cap stands at the right end. A lateral front hall stack was demolished and rebuilt in the 19th century as a lateral brick stack to the rear, enclosed within a 2-storey outshut.

The plan evolved significantly over time. The original late 16th century house comprised a hall and inner room, each heated by separate stacks—the hall by the demolished front lateral stack and the inner room by the gable end stack. A stair turret stood to the rear at the upper end of the hall. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the lower gable end of the hall was entirely rebuilt, and a canted bay window was added at this point, since demolished, probably replacing a lower end and through-passage. A passage was created at the lower end of the hall with a doorway at the front left end. At the upper end, a partition was introduced to create a small dairy between the hall and inner room. The rear stair turret was enlarged, creating a 2-storey outshut behind the hall. At this period, the house appears to have operated as two separate occupations. In the 19th century, a short right-angled single-storey kitchen extension was added at the rear, along with a dairy and scullery with lofted granary at the right upper end. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the central dairy was altered to form a wide through-passage with a central doorway created, and part of the passage partition at the lower end was removed.

The building is two storeys, arranged as a 2-window range, with the main range breaking forward slightly above the hall. Windows include sashes with 3 over 6 panes to the left and a 19th century 4-light casement with 6 panes per light to the right. The ground floor features 20th century French windows at the left end, a 12-paned horned sash to the left, and a sash with 3 over 6 panes to the right of the entrance. A 20th century porch with a 4-panelled door has been added; the upper panels feature cusped heads and were brought from a chapel at Lynton. Steps lead to a door at the gable end of the granary.

Interior features include a chamfered ridged scroll-stopped ceiling beam to the hall. The inner room has a chamfered ceiling beam with run-out stops and bressumers, featuring unusual decorative pyramid stops. A creamery stands to the left of the inner room fireplace, with a renewed timber lintel. A 17th century chamfered door surround frames the hall and inner room doorway. A 18th century 4-panelled door stands to the rear of the present entrance hall. A geometrical staircase with moulded handrail is present, with every third baluster replaced.

The roof structure is of particular interest. Above the hall are 3 trusses with morticed and tenoned cranked collars, 2 tiers of threaded purlins and a ridge purlin, with the majority of rafters remaining intact. At the lower end, the purlins have been roughly sawn off, suggesting a similar structure once extended beyond the present gable end wall. The truss at the upper end forms a closed stud partition between the hall and inner room. Suspended beneath this section is a barrel ceiling to the principal chamber above the hall, now divided into 2 rooms. Above the inner room are 2 trusses with straight principals, probably of 18th century date. There is no evidence of smoke-blackening.