X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Barnstaple


Harvest jug

They are traditional in the south-west of England, especially the ports of Barnstaple and Bideford in north Devon and Donyatt in Somerset.

Lourdes Central School, Mangalore

Lourdes Central School has formulated an international partnership with Pilton Bluecoat C of E Junior School of Barnstaple, Devon, United Kingdom.

Moreton House

In 1968 part of the medieval Bideford Bridge collapsed and the railway from Barnstaple to Torrington was re-opened to passenger traffic as a temporary measure for the conveyance of school pupils, etc.

Sonic Assassins

This band played one gig, at the Barnstaple Queens Hall on December 23, 1977, with a day of overdubs being added some time later at Griffin's studio.


Arthur Kekewich

In 1880 he ran unsuccessfully as a Conservative candidate in Coventry, and in 1885 he ran unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in Barnstaple.

Barnstaple railway station

The railway between Exeter and Barnstaple is designated as a community railway and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership.

Bishop Dunbar's Hospital

In general functions provided in chantries where they were separate establishments – e.g. Noseley, St Anne's Chapel in Barnstaple, Devon and Lincoln Cathedral were the same as those provided in many of the medieval hospitals and Bedehouses in Scotland.

Carrie Davis

Carrie Nicole Prideaux (née Davis) (born 24 June 1976 in Barnstaple, England) is a current sportsreader on the BBC News Channel, best known for reading the Sport on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1.

First Great Western

The company also operate on the local routes and branch lines in Devon and Cornwall, such as the Looe, Newquay, Falmouth and St Ives branch lines in Cornwall; the Exmouth, Paignton and Barnstaple branch lines in Devon; the Gunnislake branch line, which borders both Devon and Cornwall.

Fremington, Devon

Geographically, the centre of the village is approximately a mile (2 km) south of its quay, a historic wharf situated on the southern bank of the River Taw with plenty of residential property on all sides of its roads between Bideford and Barnstaple.

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway

Woody Bay Station was purchased by the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Company in 1995 and, after much effort, a short section of railway reopened to passengers in 2004.

The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Bill was passed on 27 June 1895, and the line opened on 11 May 1898 with public service commencing on 16 May, connecting with trains from Waterloo on the Ilfracombe Branch Line at Barnstaple Town.

Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland has featured on the British Television Series James May's Toy Stories twice, with Sebastian and Gerrit helping BBC Top Gear presenter James May building a 00 scale Hornby model railway along the abandoned railway, The Tarka Trail in Barnstaple to Bideford.

Moreton House

The former railway from Barnstaple to Torrington and beyond is now part of the Sustrans 'Tarka Trail' for cyclists and pedestrians.

Richard Mather

Nathaniel (1630–1697), who graduated at Harvard in 1647, was vicar of Barnstaple, Devon, in 1656–1662, pastor of the English Church in Rotterdam, his brother's successor in Dublin in 1671–1688, and then until his death pastor of a church in London;

Samuel Badcock

While living at Barnstaple, Badcock became acquainted with the daughter of Samuel Wesley, the master of Blundell's School in Tiverton and elder brother of John Wesley.

Serpell Report

There would have been some more network cuts, such as the Trowbridge-Melksham-Chippenham line, the branches north of Norwich, the north Devon line from Exeter towards Barnstaple, the line between Swansea and Stokesay, and the mid-Wales branch west of Shrewsbury.

Sir Bourchier Wrey, 6th Baronet

He was elected Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1747 and went to Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck in 1752 as a delegate for the 'Society for Carrying on the Herring Fishery'.

Taunton railway station

These were the Yeovil branch line (1 October 1853); the West Somerset Railway to Watchet (31 March 1862); the Chard Branch Line (11 September 1866); and the Devon and Somerset Railway (8 June 1871, extended to Barnstaple 1 November 1873).

Thomas Matthew

In April 1640, he was elected Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in the Short Parliament.

Watermouth Castle

His heir was thus his sister Harriet Mary Bassett, who became on 7 January 1858 the wife of Charles Henry Williams (1834–1908), MP, of Pilton House, Pilton, near Barnstaple.


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