Barnstaple centre was at nearby . The station building still exists, and can be viewed on-line from a webcam mounted on Barnstaple Civic Centre. A separate "Barnstaple" station, renamed Barnstaple (Victoria Road) in 1949, was opened to the east of the town in 1873 as the terminus of the Devon and Somerset Railway, eventually a part of the Great Western Railway. A junction was later provided to allow trains access to Barnstaple Junction and these ran through to Ilfracombe. It was closed in 1970. There are a selection of well-regarded primary and secondary state schools and a tertiary college in Barnstaple.
Barnstaple Priory recorded in Domesday Book of 1086. It appears that the other virgate within each manor was later granted to Pilton Priory, and Barnstaple's share of Pilland became known as Bradiford. The grant within Pilton included the wood, waters and meadows, with fishing rights on the rivers Taw and Yeo. Also granted was Barnstaple town mill at which the inhabitants were required by their tenure to grind their corn, a valuable source of revenue to the Priory. Also granted to the new priory were the Church of St Peter, Barnstaple, with all its appurtenances, which was the Saxon church in the