Recorder of Barnstaple Recorder of Barnstaple The Recorder of Barnstaple was a recorder, a form of senior judicial officer, usually an experienced barrister, within the jurisdiction of the Borough of Barnstaple in Devon. He was usually a member of the local North Devonshire gentry. The position of recorder of any borough carried a great deal of prestige and power of patronage. The recorder of a borough was often entrusted by the mayor and corporation to nominate its Members of Parliament, as was the case with Sir Hugh I Pollard (fl. 1536, 1545), Recorder of Barnstaple, who in 1545 nominated the two MP's to
St Peter's Church, Barnstaple was enlarged, probably in 1318 when three altars were dedicated by Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter. There is a record of a steeple being erected in 1388 but the present lead-covered broach spire dates to the late 17th-century and is said by Hoskins to be the best of its kind in England. The advowson and rectory were long the property of Barnstaple Priory (Priory of St Mary Magdalene), of the Cluniac order. Ancient charters were quoted from by Dugdale (d.1686) in his "Monasticon Anglicanum" (1718 edition in English) thus: The two-storied Dodderidgian Library (Latin: "Bibliotheca Doddridgiana") with wooden mullioned