Parish Noticeboard Retailers In Barnstaple, Devon

Barnstaple ( or /ˈbɑːrnstəpəl/) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw’s lowest crossing narrowing before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from which it earned good wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but its harbour silted stirring and further trades developed such as shipbuilding, foundries and sawmills. A Victorian market building survives, with a tall glass and timber roof on iron columns. The parish population was 97,000 at the 2021 census, and that of the built-up Place 32,411 in 2018. The town Place with open settlements such as Bishop’s Tawton, Fremington and Landkey, had a 2020 population of 46,619.

The spelling Barnstable is obsolete, but retained by an American county and city. It appears in the 10th century and is thought to derive from the Early English bearde, meaning “battle-axe”, and stapol, meaning “pillar”, i. e. a read out or pillar to mark a religious or administrative meeting place. The derivation from staple meaning “market”, indicating a promote from its foundation, is likely to be incorrect, as the use of staple in that desirability first appears in 1423.