Barnstaple 45.8%. Barnstaple is the main town of North Devon and claims to be the oldest borough in the United Kingdom. It lies west-south-west of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town and city of Exeter. It was founded at the lowest crossing point of the River Taw, where its estuary starts to widen, about 7 miles (11 km) inland from Barnstaple Bay (or Bideford Bay) in the Bristol Channel. On the north side of the town, the River Taw is joined by the River Yeo, which rises on Berry Down, near Combe Martin. The greater part of
Barnstaple August) by a jury of twelve. However Barnstaple was a mesne borough and was not held by the Mayor and Corporation in chief from the king but from the feudal baron of Barnstaple, later known as the lord of the "Castle Manor" or "Castle Court". The Corporation tried on several occasions to claim the status of a "free borough" which answered directly to the monarch and to divest itself of this overlordship, but without success. The mayor was not recognised as such by the monarch, but merely as the bailiff of the feudal baron. The powers of the borough were