Barnstaple, Devon : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Barnstaple. You may be able to find further references to Barnstaple in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Barnstaple municipal borough, seaport town, and parish Bartholomew
BARNSTAPLE a town, a bay, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Barnstaple within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 1: North Cornwall and Devon 12
William Camden Cornwall and Devon 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 2: Somerset and Wiltshire 2
Charles Wesley May 2 - Aug. 31, 1744: Cornwall 1
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Lands End to Winchester 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Pilton 0 2
Newport 0 2
Bradiford 0 2
Ashford 0 2
Landkey 0 2
Goodleigh 0 2
Shirwell 0 4
Tawstock 1 2
Fremington 0 3
Bishops Tawton 1 2
Hanaford 0 2
Marwood 0 2
Heanton Punchardon 0 2
Harracott 0 2
Swimbridge 0 2
Newton Tracey 0 2
Loxhore 0 2
Horwood 1 2
Instow 0 2
Stoke Rivers 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Barnstaple. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
BARNESTAPLE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
BARNSTABLE Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
BARNSTAPLE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
BASTABLE Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
BERDENESTAPLE John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
BERSTAPLE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
TUNGE ABERTAWE John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.