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11. View from the River by F.R.Lee This small painting, created in 1821, is the work of Frederick Richard Lee, the only Royal Academician from Barnstaple.  It shows the town from the river, before the improvements and building of Victorian times, and contrasts with the large scale paintings Lee was to go on to create. …

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10. The Instow Communion Cup In the museum we look after a number of church communion cups dating from the late 16th century.  Many of them are rather similar:  a “decent” Protestant communion cup in a conical shape with a foot and a band of simple ornament.   But they vary quite a lot in size.  …

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9. Peggy James's Sampler The word sampler is derived from the old French term 'essamplaire', meaning 'an example', referring to work that has been copied. Samplers were created to show off an individual’s embroidery work, and from the 18th century onwards became part of a young girl’s education. In the Museum’s collection there are several …

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12. The Bowden's Indian Balm Sign This splendid sign advertises Bowden’s Indian Balm, a cure-all ointment that was made and sold at the end of Butchers Row in Barnstaple until 1973.  It has a fascinating story to tell of missionaries and colonialism as well as medicine. William Bowden, together with his friend William Beer, were …

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20. The Landkey Parish Table For 400 years representatives of Landkey parish would have sat and deliberated (uncomfortably) at this long table.  It is one of only two parish room tables from the 16th or 17th century known in Devon and is an exceptional example of the workmanship of West Country craftsmen. The earliest long …

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25. Barnstaple's Silver Spoons The first Barnstaple-made silver spoons appeared in the 16th Century. At that time      Barnstaple was a market town, wool centre and port, whose merchants were sending ships to Europe and the New World.  For example, Richard Dodderidge owned a 100-ton prize-ship named Prudence, a privateer effectively engaged in licenced piracy. She had …

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31. The Abbott Overmantel This plaster overmantel was created around 1620, by John Abbott the Elder, of Frithelstock, a member of the celebrated North Devon family of plasterers. It shows the Annunciation, where the Angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to the son of God.   Although the scene is biblical …

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32. A Yeomanry Table Napkin The Royal Devon Yeomanry Regimental Collection includes a set of illustrated silk table napkins made by Thomas Marshall in 1850 for the Officers’ Mess.  The hand drawn images show the range of the Yeomanry’s activities at that time. Thomas Mervyn Bouchier Marshall was the son of the banker John Marshall …

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34. The Land Army Embroidery This embroidered tablecloth records the names and celebrates the work of women at the Braunton Bulb Farm during the Second World War. The Braunton Bulb Farm was established by Seymour Cobley Ltd in 1923 on poor, rabbit-infested sandy soil at the edge of the Great Field and Braunton Burrows.  They …

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37. The Yeomanry Music This hand-written sheet music was created in 1852 by the Thomas and John Marshall, the sons of the owner and manager of the Barnstaple Bank. The two Regiments of Yeomanry, the North Devons and the First Devons, had originally been created to protect against a potential invasion by Napoleonic France.  By …