a town of the county of Devon, in the hundred of the same name, 146 miles from London. It stands on a point of land projecting into the Bristol Channel, which forms one of the boundaries of the bay of Barnstaple. It has a market on Saturday, attended chiefly by persons from the adjoining county of Cornwall. The harbour is rendered secure by a pier. The population amounted in 1801 to 1546, in 1811 to 1734, in 1821 to 1968, and in 1831 to 2143.