BARNSTAPLE, a market and borough town of England, county of Devon, 40 miles N.W. of Exeter. It is situated on the River Taw, 6 miles from its mouth, but has always been considered a seaport. The stream, which is only navigable for small craft, is here crossed by an ancient stone bridge of 16 arches, and by a railway bridge on the Ilfracombe line. The town is handsome and well built; it was incorporated in the reign of Henry I., and has returned two members to parliament since the time of Edward I. The woollen trade, for which it was once famous, has now entirely declined; but it manufactures lace, sailcloth, and fishing-nets, and has extensive potteries, tanneries, sawmills, and foundries, while shipbuilding is also successfully carried on. The public buildings and institutions include a large church, a guildhall (1826), a music hall, a free grammar school, a literary institute, national and charity schools, an infirmary (1832), and a dispensary, and the finest market-place in the West of England. The poet Gay was born in the vicinity, and received his education at the grammar school here, which at an earlier period had numbered Bishop Jewel among its alumni. Population in 1871, 11,659. Barnstaple is a town of considerable antiquity, and was erected, it is said, by Athelstan into a borough. At the time of the Norman Conquest it numbered between forty and fifty burgesses. Joel of Totness, to whom it was transferred, built a castle and founded a priory of Cluniae monks. In 1588 the town was able to furnish three vessels against the Spanish Armada.