Barnstaple Victoria Road railway station Barnstaple Victoria Road railway station Barnstaple railway station (Barnstaple Victoria Road railway station from 1949) was the western terminus of the Devon and Somerset Railway. It was situated on the western side of Barnstaple in Devon, England. It was served by passenger trains from 1871 until 1960, and by freight trains until 1970. The Devon and Somerset was a broad gauge line that opened from to in 1871 and completed to Barnstaple on 1 November 1873. The line was operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway when that company was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1876. It
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