Barnstaple in the 16th and 17th centuries greatly benefited the town. The wealthy merchants that this trade created built impressive town houses, some of which survive behind more recent frontages—they include No. 62 Boutport Street, said to have one of the best plaster ceilings in Devon. The merchants also built several almshouses including Penrose's, and ensured their legacy by dedicating elaborate monuments to their families inside the church. By the 18th century, Barnstaple had ceased to be a woollen manufacturing town, which was replaced by Irish wool and yarn, for which it was the main landing place; the raw materials were
Barnstaple Town railway station as a restaurant. The signal box is now (2007) empty but the station building is now used as a school. In late 2015 a charity named Combe Rail was formed with the intention of establishing a heritage railway on the trackbed of the Ilfracombe-Barnstaple line as well as lobbying for a full reopening in the future. Barnstaple Town railway station Barnstaple Town railway station was an intermediate station on the L&SWR line to Ilfracombe, England. The first station named Barnstaple Town was originally opened as Barnstaple Quay in 1874, and became Barnstaple Town in 1886. It was located in Commercial