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
Guildhall, Barnstaple cup and cover of 1589 given, according to its Latin inscription, by Richard Dodderidge, the father of Penetcost Dodderidge after whom the room is named; silver-gilt steeple cups and covers of similar design dated 1606 and 1620, the latter donated by John Penrose, after whom Penrose's Almshouses in the town are named; two silver-gilt ceremonial maces made by local goldsmith John Peard and dated 1660, replacing earlier ones made in 1425; two silver tankards from 1676 donated by Thomas Horwood, Mayor of Barnstaple in 1653; a punch bowl of 1745 donated by Thomas Benson, Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in