See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Nos 26-29 Joy Street were formely large scale Victorian structures. The site of these buildings has now been redeveloped following a fire at Nos 27-28 in 1984. The current buildings are of pale coloured brick with decorative rows of red brick and red brick dressings at first floor level.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit Site Code: ND27
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53SE/291

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (XIII to XX - 1201 AD to 2000 AD (Between))

Full description

North Devon Journal, Treasures from the Past (Article in Serial). SDV361488.

Archaeologists working off Joy Street, Barnstaple have discovered fragments of medieval pottery and shoes dating back to the 1700s.

Two small cannon balls were also discovered among the rubble. The shoes were unearthed from two leather treatment pits at the back of the site, along with remains of animal skins and hides.

Ordnance Survey, 1855-1895, First Edition 1:500 Town Map (Cartographic). SDV338879.

Ordnance Survey, 1973, SS5433-5533 (Cartographic). SDV342163.

27-29 Joy Street shown as a large rectangular building.

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1986, Archaeological Evaluation and Research Work, Barnstaple 1985-6, 11-15 (Report - non-specific). SDV342155.

Trial excavations at 27-29 Joy Street in Barnstaple: Implications Report. Joy Street was originally called Eastgate Street and the site is less than 100 metres from the supposed position of the East Gate. Excavation at 4-6 Joy Street in the 1970's produced possible Saxon and medieval deposits. A clay bonded wall and clay floors were exposed in Area 1 at 27 Joy Street. A cellar occupied much of 29 Joy Street. Area 2 at 28 Joy Street exposed a medieval pit and a 19th century well and some sherds of Medieval pottery were recovered. Several pits were excavated in the 18th century and it was suggested they were cut to recover natural clay for construction work in the town.

Brann, M., 1986, Excavations at Joy Street 1986 (Report - Excavation). SDV342158.

Western Morning News, 1986, Interesting finds at Barnstaple Dig (Article in Serial). SDV361487.

An archaeological dig in centre of Barnstaple has already unearthed some interesting finds, some of them over 500 years old.
They have found foundations of what is believed to be a merchant's business-house and among items unearthed have been two cannon balls thought to date from the Civil War, a mortar for grinding and two well preserved shoes about 200 years old.

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1986, The Guardian Royal Exchange Site, 27-28 Joy Street, Barnstaple (Report - Excavation). SDV342154.

27-28 Joy Street in Barnstaple. Buildings destroyed by fire in 1984 and excavated prior to redevelopment. Principal phases of activity on the site identified.
Phase I: limited evidence of prehistoric activity - flint waste. Undated features.
Phase II: sill beams and slots of timber buildings, perhaps 13th century.
Phases II and IV: a metalled surface sealed the above. Pits cut over much of the site, containing possible early medieval pot. Wells at the back of the tenements produced 2 14th century jugs.
Phase V: L-shaped building, clay bonded stone, built. Sequence of floors recovered. Building details in report. Adjacent holloway. Building lasted to 18th century.
Phase VI: pits dug, possibly industrial.
Phase VII: post-medieval alterations to building including insertion of fireplace. Clay dug out of west part of rear, leather curing pits in eastern part - leather fragments, charcoal and lime recovered from these. Also iron working in the area.
Phases VIII-X: more iron working. Building alterations. Use by a baker. Twentieth century concrete floors. Further details and some phase plans in interim report.

Egan, G., 1987, Post-Medieval Britain in 1986, 289 (Article in Serial). SDV75188.

A small probably 16th century tannery comprising 4 pits lined with slate and mortar was revealed during excavation in 1986. Well preserved leather shoes and offcuts were recovered

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1989, Archaeology in North Devon 1989, 19-20 (Report - non-specific). SDV342315.

The buildings at 27-28 Joy Street in Barnstaple were surveyed in 1986 prior to demolition. Cottages known as 'Pugsleys Court' are shown on a 19th century map.

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1990, Archaeology in Barnstaple: 1984-90, 17-8 (Report - non-specific). SDV342524.

Several phases of timber slots on the street frontage dated to around the 13th century. The building was replaced in the late 15th or early 16th century by an L-shaped stone-walled house which survived into the 18th century.

Lee, E., 1991, Barnstaple Archaeological Reports (Report - non-specific). SDV79099.

Excavations at 27-28 Joy Street revealed seven phases of activity.
Phases I-III: features from different trenches were interpreted as the drainage or boundary ditches for field strips orientated north to south. These were at right angles to and presumably pre-dating the burgage plot boundaries which run west from the High Street. Tentatively dated as Late Saxon.
Phase IV: at the southern end of the site there was clear evidence of domestic buildings. Cut into the gravel road layer sealing the early frontage was a foundation trench containing the remains of an earth bonded stone wall footing. Two wells were back-filled with large quantities of 14th - 15th century ceramics.
Phase V: construction of an L-shaped two-roomed building that remained in use until at least the early 19th century. The front room was 10 metres by 5 metres externally with the long side fronting the street. There were two entrances placed centrally in the two long walls forming a passage from the street to the rear yard. The rear room of similar size was terraced into the natural subsoil with access from the yard in the southeast corner. Small quantities of pottery from the early floor layer suggested a late 15th to early 16th century deposition.
Phase VI: during the late 16th to early 17th century there is evidence of restyling and minor alterations to the L-shaped building.
Phase VII: evidence for leather working and small scale iron working dating to the 17th century in and around the L-shaped building.

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1991, North Devon Archaeological Site Code Index, Site Code ND27 (Report - non-specific). SDV63429.

Full excavation at 27-29 Joy Street in 1986. A multi-phase site with medieval wells and buildings, and post medieval domestic and industrial features.

Google, 2013, Google Streetview (Website). SDV350787.

Row of modern shops in pale coloured brick with red brick dressings around the first floor windows and a decorative single or double row of red bricks. The individual properties are not identical presumably to reflect the different characters of the buildings that preceded them and the decorative red brick continues that on the adjacent buildings at the High Street end of Joy Street.

Southwest Archaeology, 2013, Greater Barnstaple Area Project Database, Mapping Area 135 (Un-published). SDV351581.

Beacham, P., Dec 1983, Barnstaple Local Public Inquiry. Historic Buildings in Barnstaple Town Centre Included in Redevelopment Proposals. Addendum to Proof Evidence, 10 (Report - non-specific). SDV354497.

Nos 24-29 Joy Street appear to be consistently 19th century in date. It is possible that they may retain evidence of earlier structures although this is considered most unlikely in the cases of nos 26-29 which are large scale Victorian structures. They have very plain interiors with little decorative detailing.

Beacham, P., Nov 1983, Barnstaple Local Public Inquiry. Historic Buildings in Barnstaple Town Centre included in Redevelopment Proposals. Proof Evidence, 2.17 (Report - non-specific). SDV354431.

26-29 Joy Street comprise a complex of properties with two separate mid-late 19th century facades to Joy Street. The roof line is varied with Nos 26 and 27 being the taller of the buildings. Nos. 26 and 27 have a four window front on the first and second storeys and nos. 28 and 29 have two groups of three sliding sash windows. Nos 26/27 together with 24/25 and 28/29 from a good group of mid-late 19th century buildings. They have considerable town scape value and their retention is considered important for the conservation area.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV1335 - JUG (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FDV1334 - MORTAR (VESSEL) (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FDV1337 - ORNAMENT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FDV1336 - BEAD (XV to XVII - 1500 AD to 1699 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV4495 - Excavation at 27-28 Joy Street, Barnstaple

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.