Summary
Cricket pavilion of early C19 date with associated C20 score box and adjacent Second World War pillbox. The is C20 single-storey lean-to at the north end is not of special architectural or historic interest and is not included in the listing.
Reasons for Designation
North Devon Cricket Pavilion, score box and former pillbox are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: it is one the earliest listed examples of a building adapted for use as a cricket pavilion;
* Architectural interest: this former agricultural building has been adapted to a cricket pavilion using traditional building materials, maintaining a vernacular style which was also favoured by later purpose-built examples;
* Degree of survival: despite the alterations to the roof and the infill within the veranda; the phases of the building remain legible, including its former agricultural use and its current incarnation as a sports building. It also retains its associated score box.
History
Instow Cricket Ground is part of the Christie Devon Estate. There is some discrepancy over the date of the cricket pavilion on the south side. The North Devon Cricket Club (NDCC) was founded in 1823 and, it is understood, moved to its current location at Instow in 1836, adapting an old agricultural building for use as a pavilion. The Instow Tithe map (circa 1840) records the land as a field in use for pasture, and only depicts one building on its west side. However, the form of the pavilion, including its original single-depth plan and thick granite walls, appears to confirm that the pavilion has been adapted from an earlier late-C18/ early-C19 building, probably a barn.
The top of the internal east wall indicates the roof was raised when the building was converted to a pavilion. Two wings were also added on the west side, as well as a veranda that was originally supported by chamfered timbers (replaced in the late-C20 by a glazed timber partition).
During the Second World War a brick pill box was constructed on the west side of the cricket ground. It was associated with the Emergency Battery established along the coast to the north. In the 1950s a thatched score box was added to the side of the pill box.
In the late C20 the pavilion was extended to the north and south with single-storey additions. Permission to replace the south-end toilet block with a new single-storey structure was granted in 2015.
Details
Mid-C19 cricket pavilion and detached mid-C20 score box with attached former pillbox, for North Devon Cricket Club. Likely originally built as a barn of late-C18/early-C19 origins, it was remodelled as a pavilion in 1836.
MATERIALS: painted stone rubble with a gable-end thatch roof. At either end are small rubble-stone stacks with brick caps.
PLAN: the building has an overall U-shaped plan, with the long elevation on a north- to-south axis and an additional east wing at the south end. There is C20 single-storey lean-to (not included in the listing) attached to the north end and a later single-storey toilet block attached to the south end.
EXTERIOR: the pavilion is single-storey. The west elevation faces onto the cricket ground. In the centre is an enclosed veranda with corrugated iron roof and late-C20 glazed doors and windows. It is flanked by projecting gable wings. Within the veranda, the inner face of each side wing has a plank door with strap hinges. The wing gable ends have large C20 three-light transom windows. Beneath the veranda is the main central entrance, a plank door flanked by C19 three-light mullion windows. The north and south gable ends of the pavilion are partially obscured by the later lean-tos. The east elevation has three, three-light C19 windows with lead casements, separated by two large buttresses. The east wing has a panelled door and a C19 casement window on the north face, a further C19 casement on the gable end and a truncated lateral stone chimney stack on the south side.
INTERIOR: there is club meeting room in the main range with chimney breasts at either end. Attached to the south end is wooden First World War Roll of Honour for the members of the North Devon Cricket Club who fought in the conflict and above, where the upper part of the chimney breast has been removed, is a single-light external window. At the north end is a late-C20 bar. The central entrance in the west side is flanked by two thick internal buttresses. Above is a king-post roof with five principal trusses secured by timber pegs. Some of the timber has been replaced. The projecting west wings contain changing rooms; Away to the north and Home to the south. The changing rooms have vertical timber-plank panelling and the same roof structure as in the main range. The east wing contains a modern kitchen.
SCORE BOX AND ATTACHED FORMER PILLBOX: to the south-west of the pavilion is the score box, brick, with a thatched roof, and weather boarding to the front gable end. It is square in plan with access to the rear. The attached former pillbox is brick with a thick concrete roof and infilled embrasures.
The C20 single-storey lean-to at the north end is not of special architectural or historic interest and is not included in the listing.
