BARNSTAPLE Devon September 2021 - Town Centre Walk (4K)

Join us for a walk in Barnstaple, Devon, England. We explore Barnstaple town centre and start our walk on Barnstaple High Street. We take a look at the historic Pannier Market building and stroll down Butchers Row and Boutport Street. We finish our walk by the Barnstaple Clock Tower (the Albert Clock) with views of Barnstaple Long Bridge and the Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon.

Barnstaple is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the lowest crossing point of the River Taw flowing into the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool. Great wealth ensued. Later it imported Irish wool, but its harbour silted up and other industries developed, such as shipbuilding, foundries and sawmills. A Victorian market building survives, with a high glass and timber roof on iron columns. Barnstaple is the largest town in North Devon and the main shopping area for North Devon.

The town was a prosperous place in the past, at one time a major port particularly for the American trade. It remains a thriving market town with a traditional Pannier Market. Today Barnstaple has a partly pedestrianised centre and features many fine buildings and attractive narrow streets and alleys. The oldest surviving part of town is the Norman mound and remnants of the original Norman castle wall can still be seen. There is also the ornate Queen Anne’s Walk and the 13th century Long Bridge. Close by is the Museum of North Devon.

Barnstaple is a good base from which to explore Tarka Country and the 180 mile Tarka Trail.

Most of the town lies on the east bank of the estuary, connected on the western side by the ancient Barnstaple Long Bridge, which has 16 arches. The town's early medieval layout still appears from the street plan and street names, with Boutport Street ("About the Port") following the curved line of the ditch outside the town walls.

Barnstaple has an eclectic mix of architectural styles, with the 19th century probably predominant. There are remnants of early buildings as well as several early plaster ceilings. St Anne's Chapel in the central churchyard can be seen as the most important of the ancient buildings to survive. Queen Anne's Walk was erected in about 1708 as a mercantile exchange. The Georgian Guildhall is also of interest, as is the Pannier Market beneath it.

Barnstaple has been the major market for North Devon since Saxon times. Demands for health regulation of its Victorian food market saw the construction in 1855–1856 of a Pannier Market, originally known as the Vegetable Market and designed by local architect R. D. Gould. This has a high glass-and-timber roof on iron columns. At 98 metres long, it runs the length of Butchers' Row.

Built on the other side of the street at the same time as the Pannier Market, Butchers' Row consists of ten shops with pilasters of Bath Stone and wrought-iron supports for an overhanging roof. Only one is still a butcher's, although successor shops still sell local agricultural goods. There is a baker, a delicatessen, two fishmongers, a florist and a greengrocer.

In early 2020, the local Council web site provided this summary of the Pannier Market: "Largely unchanged in over 150 years, Barnstaple's historic Pannier Market has a wide range of stalls, with everything from fresh local produce, flowers and crafts, to prints and pictures, fashion and... two cafés."

The "Pannier Market, Butchers Row" has been a Grade II listed building since 1951.

The Albert Clock is a clocktower memorial located in The Square in Barnstaple to Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. The tower was built in 1862.

The South West Coast Path National Trail runs through the town, and gives access to walks along the spectacular North Devon coast.

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