Museum of North Devon Including Garden Railings Adjacent to River Front
MUSEUM OF NORTH DEVON INCLUDING GARDEN RAILINGS ADJACENT TO RIVER FRONT, THE SQUARE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1385357
- Date first listed:
- 31-Aug-1988
- List Entry Name:
- Museum of North Devon Including Garden Railings Adjacent to River Front
- Statutory Address:
- MUSEUM OF NORTH DEVON INCLUDING GARDEN RAILINGS ADJACENT TO RIVER FRONT, THE SQUARE
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2004-07-29
- Reference:
- IOE01/12629/30
- Rights:
- © Dr Barbara Hilton. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1385357
- Date first listed:
- 31-Aug-1988
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 29-Sept-1999
- List Entry Name:
- Museum of North Devon Including Garden Railings Adjacent to River Front
- Statutory Address 1:
- MUSEUM OF NORTH DEVON INCLUDING GARDEN RAILINGS ADJACENT TO RIVER FRONT, THE SQUARE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- MUSEUM OF NORTH DEVON INCLUDING GARDEN RAILINGS ADJACENT TO RIVER FRONT, THE SQUARE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- North Devon (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Barnstaple
- National Grid Reference:
- SS 55864 32968
Details
BARNSTAPLE
SS5532 THE SQUARE
684-1/4/238 (South West side)
31/08/88 Museum of North Devon, including
garden railings adjacent to river
front
(Formerly Listed as:
THE SQUARE
(West side)
North Devon Athenaeum, inc garden
railing adjoining the river front)
GV II
House, later library, now museum. 1872. Red brick with
dressings of stone and terracotta. Hipped, slated roof, the
flat centre guarded by ornamental iron railings. 5 red brick
chimneys with moulded, bracketed stone caps.
Plan: square, built round an internal courtyard. To right (on
N side) a small service wing (probably a coach-house) with
walled courtyard behind.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, the main house with garret. Front to
square is 7-window range. Ground storey has centre doorway
with pilasters having foliated stone capitals; above is a
stone hood on large carved brackets. 6-panelled door. At
either side a recessed sash window having in front of it a
stone column supporting 2 round-arched transom-lights under a
single round arch. Canted bay window at either end. Upper
storey has sash windows with moulded stone lintels, rounded at
the corners. Stone balcony with open tracery in front of
middle window. Ground storey has 3 horizontal stone bands.
Continued moulded cills in 2nd storey. Inset stone shaft with
foliated capital at each corner. Bracketed eaves cornice with
terracotta panels between the brackets.
The other 3 fronts are similar in character, the best being to
the left (facing S) and at the rear (facing the river). The
latter front has terracotta panels and, at the right-hand end,
a bow window having a string course carved with heads and
heraldic shields.
INTERIOR has several rooms and lobbies with enriched cornices
and chandelier bosses. Open-well, wooden staircase in Jacobean
manner with twisted balusters and large carved newels. Glazed
inner doorway and screen with decorative woodwork, probably of
the 1880s. Gothic stone chimneypiece in entrance hall.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: at the rear, facing the river, is a small
garden enclosed by iron railings having spearhead uprights and
standards. The gate piers, with the bases of Dolphin lamp
posts, are separately listed (qv).
HISTORICAL NOTE: built for William Thorne, but sold to the
Barnstaple Bridge Trust in 1876. They in turn sold it to Mr WF
Rock, who founded the North Devon Athenaeum and Free Library
here in 1888.
(White W: Directory of Devonshire: 1890-: 133; Cruse JB: The
Long Bridge of Barnstaple: 1982-: 16).
Listing NGR: SS5586432968
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 485819
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Cruse, J B, The Long Bridge of Barnstaple, (1982), 16
Whites Directory in History Gazetteer and Directory of Devonshire, (1890), 133
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 02:50:19.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.