Barnstaple Castle supporter of King Stephen. In 1228, Henry III ordered the Sheriff of Devon to reduce the castle walls to a height of , as recorded in the Close Rolls for that year. By the time of the death of the last Henry de Tracey in 1274, the castle was beginning to decay. The fabric of the castle was used in the construction of other buildings and by 1326 the castle was a ruin. The remaining walls blew down in a storm in 1601. Now only the tree covered motte remains. Barnstaple Castle Barnstaple Castle stood near what is now the
Barnstaple Bideford and to Bude and then further down towards Cornwall. The Barnstaple bus network is privatised and run by many bus operators including Stagecoach South West. The main bus station is located on the junction with Queen Street and Belle Meadow Drive. Following frequent bus services operate from Barnstaple: National Express services to London, Heathrow Airport, Taunton, Bristol and Birmingham also run services from Barnstaple. The nearest airport is Exeter Airport. Barnstaple railway station is the terminus of a branch line from Exeter, known as the Tarka Line after the local connection with Tarka the Otter. The station is near