Editing Instow (section)

==History==
Instow is mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]] as having two ploughlands and {{convert|66|acre}} of meadow, pasture and woodland.<ref>{{cite web |title=Instow {{!}} Domesday Book |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SS4730/instow/ |website=opendomesday.org |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref> The name of Instow derives from [[Anglo-Saxon]] of ''St John's Holy Place'', which would have been ''Johnstow'', or ''Jonestow''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Instow :: Survey of English Place-Names |url=http://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/browse/id/53284f38b47fc4097e001991 |website=epns.nottingham.ac.uk |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hesketh |first1=Robert |title=Devon place names |date=2008 |publisher=Bossiney |location=Launceston |isbn=1899383980 |page=22}}</ref> The suffix ''Stow'', denotes a holy place in the Anglo-Saxon language, and the name is found in many places across Devon which had a church ([[Churchstow]], [[Christow]], [[Virginstow]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stanes |first1=Robin |title=A history of Devon |date=1986 |publisher=Phillimore |location=Chichester, Sussex |isbn=0850335280 |page=35}}</ref> The original settlement was on the high ground opposite the more modern site of the village low against the riverside.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lauder |first1=Rosemary Anne |title=Villages of North Devon |date=1982 |publisher=Badger |location=Bideford |isbn=0946290008 |page=30}}</ref> This is where the 14th century Church of St John the Baptist is located, near to the Instow Community Primary School.<ref>{{cite web |title=Instow |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.3&lat=51.05918&lon=-4.17325&layers=168&b=1 |website=maps.nls.uk |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{NHLE|desc=Church of St John the Baptist |num=1107600 |grade=I|access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref>

The parish was formerly in the [[hundred (county division)|hundred]] of Fremington, some {{convert|3|mi}} north-east of [[Bideford]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Genuki: Instow, Devon |url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/Instow |website=Genuki.org.uk |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref> and {{convert|6|mi}} west of [[Barnstaple]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Parishes: Ide - Jacobstow {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol6/pp287-295#h3-0006 |website=British-history.ac.uk |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref> In 1889, a directory described the village as being {{convert|218|mi}} from London, and on "the high road from Bideford to Barnstaple."<ref>{{cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Devonshire |date=1889 |publisher=Kellys Directories |location=London |page=274|oclc=1131686133}}</ref>

Before the arrival of the railway in 1855, the village was quite small consisting of two sets of cottages, one by Lane End, and the other set next to the quay.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lauder |first1=Rosemary Anne |title=Villages of North Devon |date=1982 |publisher=Badger |location=Bideford |isbn=0946290008 |page=28}}</ref> The quay was built {{circa|1620}}, and is a Grade II listed structure.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Instow Quay Jetty |num=1107594 |grade=II|access-date=3 November 2022 }}</ref><ref name="RAL">{{cite book |last1=Lauder |first1=Rosemary Anne |title=Villages of North Devon |date=1982 |publisher=Badger |location=Bideford |isbn=0946290008 |page=29}}</ref> The village hall, which was built in 1911, was formerly known as ''Rifle Hall'', as it was used to train soldiers on rifle drills for the [[First World War]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=McDonald |editor1-first=Pat |title=The Devon village book |date=1990 |publisher=Published jointly by Countryside and the D.F.W.I |location=Newbury |isbn=185306078X |page=125}}</ref> Military training in the [[Second World War]] included practise D-Day landings with walls built into the dunes near to Instow. These were removed quite quickly after the war had ended.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Robert |title=The rough guide to Devon & Cornwall. |date=2013 |publisher=Rough Guides |location=London |isbn=9781409361121 |page=191 |edition=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Devon & Dartmoor HER |url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV102587&resourceID=104 |website=Heritagegateway.org.uk |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref>