Barnstaple Quay railway station was opened closer to the town centre. Barnstaple Quay railway station Barnstaple Quay was an intermediate station on the L&SWR line to Ilfracombe in Devon, England. The station opened in 1874, and located on the north bank of the River Taw close to the centre of Barnstaple, was renamed Barnstaple Town in 1886. With the opening of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway in 1898, the station was relocated to its present site, to accommodate passenger exchange to the narrow gauge line. The station became the town's bus station, but this closed in 1999 and the building then became a café
Barnstaple of the present town. Pilton is recorded in the Burghal Hidage (c. 917) as a burh founded by Alfred the Great, and it may have been the site of a Viking attack in 893, but by the later 10th century Barnstaple had taken over its role of local defence. Barnstaple had its own mint before the Norman Conquest. The large feudal barony of Barnstaple had its caput at Barnstaple Castle. It was granted by William the Conqueror to Geoffrey de Montbray, who is recorded as its holder in Domesday Book. The barony escheated to the crown in 1095 after Montbray