Barnstaple as a whole (94.2% White British). Barnstaple has a similar ethnic make-up compared with other south west towns, like Truro and Cullompton. North Devon is some distance from the UK's traditional areas of industrial activity and population. In the late 1970s Barnstaple gained a number of industrial companies due to the availability of central government grants for the construction of factories and their operation on low or zero levels of local taxation. This was only partially successful, with few of these lasting more than the few years that grants were available. One success was the manufacturing of generic medicines by
Barnstaple Priory recorded in Domesday Book of 1086. It appears that the other virgate within each manor was later granted to Pilton Priory, and Barnstaple's share of Pilland became known as Bradiford. The grant within Pilton included the wood, waters and meadows, with fishing rights on the rivers Taw and Yeo. Also granted was Barnstaple town mill at which the inhabitants were required by their tenure to grind their corn, a valuable source of revenue to the Priory. Also granted to the new priory were the Church of St Peter, Barnstaple, with all its appurtenances, which was the Saxon church in the