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 of the present town. Pilton is recorded in the Burghal Hidage (c. 917) as a burh founded by Alfred the Great, and it may have been the site of a Viking attack in 893, but by the later 10th century Barnstaple had taken over its role of local defence. Barnstaple had its own mint before the Norman Conquest. The large feudal barony of Barnstaple had its caput at Barnstaple Castle. It was granted by William the Conqueror to Geoffrey de Montbray, who is recorded as its holder in Domesday Book. The barony escheated to the crown in 1095 after Montbray