Guildhall, Barnstaple today is a working office and meeting space. Displayed here are a number of historic artifacts including an American flag donated by Barnstaple's twin town of Barnstable in Massachusetts. Displayed on the walls are rolls of honour listing past Mayors of Barnstaple together with a number of pictures and other artifacts connected with Barnstaple's twin towns and the town's links with the Royal Family. Barnstaple has been the major market for North Devon since Saxon times. Demands for health regulation of its food market in Victorian times saw the construction in 1855 to 1856 of the town's Pannier Market, originally
Barnstaple it developed other industries, such as shipbuilding, foundries and sawmills. Its Victorian market survives, with its high glass and timber roof on iron columns. Barnstaple railway station is the terminus of a branch line from Exeter, known as the Tarka Line. Since 1974, Barnstaple has been a civil parish governed by town council. The parish itself had a population of 24,033 and including the satellite settlements known as the Barnstaple Town Area, it is 53,514. The old spelling Barnstable is now obsolete, but is retained by an American county and town and is still sometimes used for Bideford or Barnstable