Barnstaple Castle supporter of King Stephen. In 1228, Henry III ordered the Sheriff of Devon to reduce the castle walls to a height of , as recorded in the Close Rolls for that year. By the time of the death of the last Henry de Tracey in 1274, the castle was beginning to decay. The fabric of the castle was used in the construction of other buildings and by 1326 the castle was a ruin. The remaining walls blew down in a storm in 1601. Now only the tree covered motte remains. Barnstaple Castle Barnstaple Castle stood near what is now the
Barnstaple railway station that carried Sticklepath Hill (the A3125) across the former Bideford and Ilfracombe lines was demolished to make way for a road junction for the Barnstaple Western Bypass, which opened in May 2007. The roundabout here has been built on a raised platform in order to allow for the reopening of the line to Bideford should this be proved viable in the future. Work from the bypass has also included a larger station car park and better bus access – a large number of Barnstaple town services, as well as services to Bideford, Ilfracombe and South Molton now call at the