Barnstaple Town Football Club is a football club based in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Road.

History

The club was established in 1904 as Pilton Yeo Vale, and were founder members of the

North Devon League The North Devon Football League is a football competition based in England. It was established in 1904. The top division of this league, which is the Premier Division, sits at level 12 of the English football league system and is a feeder to th ...

in the same year.History
Barnstaple Town F.C.1904-05
North Devon League They played in the league's first match, hosting

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay towar ...

on 1 October; the visitors won 4–2 with several hundred in attendance. However, that was to be the only defeat all season in the league and club went on to win the inaugural league title. At the end of the season they adopted their current name. After winning a second North Devon league title in 1908–09, they club switched to the Exeter & District League, where they remained until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. After the war they returned to the North Devon League, before rejoining the Exeter & District League. They won the league title in 1946–47 and were runners-up the following season, before joining Division Two of the Western League in 1948. In 1949–50 Barnstaple won Division Two, earning promotion to Division One. In 1951–52 they reached the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

for the first time, losing 5–2 to

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

in a replay. The club were league champions in 1952–53, and reached the first round of the FA Cup again in 1954–55, losing 4–1 at home to

Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as Bo ...

in front of a record crowd of 6,200. They reached the first round of the FA Cup for a third time in 1959–60, losing 4–0 at

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. The league was reduced to a single division in 1960, and the club reached the FA Cup first round again in 1972–73, before losing 2–0 at home to

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshir ...

. The league expanded back to two divisions in 1976, with Barnstaple placed in the Premier Division. In 1979–80 they won their second Western League title, and finished as runners-up in the following two seasons. After finishing second-from bottom in 1990–91, Barnstaple were relegated to Division One. Three seasons later they won Division One, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. They remained in the Premier Division until being relegated again at the end of the 2012–13 season, which saw them finish bottom of the Premier Division. However, they made an immediate return to the top division after winning Division One in 2014–15. The following season saw the club finish as runners-up in the Premier Division, earning promotion to Division One South & West of the Southern League. In 2021–22 they finished bottom of Division One South, resulting in relegation back to the Premier Division of the Western League.

Ground

The club have played their home games at Mill Road in Barnstaple since the late 1930s. It has a capacity of 5,000, of which 250 is seated and 1,000 covered. The record attendance at Mill Road was set in the 1954–55 season when a crowd of 6,200 watched an FA Cup first round tie against

. Floodlights were installed in 1988 and inaugurated with a friendly match against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

on 15 November 1988, with the lights switched on by Villa manager

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln ...

Honours

*Western League **Champions 1952–53, 1979–80 **Division One champions 1949–50, 1993–94, 2014–15 *Exeter & District League **Champions 1946–47 *North Devon League **Champions 1904–05, 1908–09 *Devon Pro Cup ** Winners 1952–53, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81 *Devon St Lukes Cup **Winners 1987–88

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 1951–52, 1954–55, 1959–60, 1972–73 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: Second round, 1971–72 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footb ...

performance: Fourth round, 1994–95 *Record attendance: 6,200 v

, FA Cup first round, 1954–55 *Biggest win: 12–1 vs

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of ...

, FA Cup third qualifying round, 1954 *Heaviest defeat: 0–11 vs

Odd Down Odd Down is an area of the city of Bath, Somerset, England. A suburb of the city, Odd Down is located west and south of the city centre. The city ward population taken at the 2011 census was 5,681. A section of the Wansdyke medieval earthwo ...

, Western League, 25 April 2013Barnstaple Town suffer club record Western league defeat to Odd Down
North Devon Journal, 2 May 2013 *Record transfer fee paid: £4,000 to Hungerford Town for Joe Scott *Record transfer fee received: £6,000 from Bristol City for Ian DoyleHonours
Barnstaple Town F.C.

References

External links