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 Somerset style; the Roman Catholic church of the Immaculate Conception, said to have been built to designs supplied by Pugin, in Romanesque Revival style; the late 19th-century church of St John the Baptist in the Newport area of the town and a Baptist chapel of 1870 which includes a lecture hall and classrooms. Cricket is played at Barnstaple and Pilton. Barnstaple Town F.C. have been based at Mill Road since 1904 and play in the Western Football League. Rugby union is played at Barnstaple Rugby Football Club whose first team play in South West Premier, which is a fifth tier