and whose warm encouragement led to this paper. 

 Also, the author is greatly indebted to the following for 

 their help and cooperation: E. Stanley Abbott, super- 

 intendent, J. Paul Hudson, curator, and Charles 

 Hatch, chief of interpretation, Colonial National His- 

 torical Park; Worth Bailey, Historic American Build- 

 ings Survey; Robert A. Eider, Jr., assistant curator, 

 division of ethnology, U.S. National Museum; Miss 



Margaret Franklin of London; Henry Hornblower 11 

 and Charles Strickland of Plimoth Plantation, Inc.; 

 Ivor Noel Hume, chief archeologist. Colonial Wil- 

 liamsburg, Inc.; Miss Mildred E. Jenkinson, librarian 

 and curator, Borough of Bideford Library and Mu- 

 seum; Frederick H. Norton, professor of ceramics, 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Mrs. 

 Edwin M. Snell of Washington. 



Historical Background 



Barnstaple and its neighlwr Bideford are today 

 quiet market centers and summer resorts. In the 

 17th and early 18th centuries, by contrast, they were 

 deeply invoked in trade with .Xmerica and with the 

 whole West of England interest in colonial settlement. 

 Bideford was the home of Sir Richard Grenville, who, 

 with Sir Walter Raleigh, was one of the first explorers 

 of Virginia. As the leading citizen of Bideford, 

 Grenville obtained from Queen Elizabeth a modern 

 charter oi incorporation for the town. Consequently, 

 according to the town's 18th-century chronicler, 

 "Bideford rose so rapidly as to become a port of im- 

 portance at the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's 

 reign . . . when the trade began to open between 

 England and America in the reign of King James the 

 First, Bideford early took a part in it."* Its orienta- 

 tion for a lengthy period was towards America, and 

 the welfare of its inhabitants was therefore largely 

 dependent upon commerce with the colonies. 



In common with other West of England ports, Barn- 

 staple and Bideford engaged heavily in the New- 

 foundland fishing trade. However, "the principal 

 part of foreign commerce that Bideford was ever en- 

 gaged in, was to Maryland and Virginia for to- 

 bacco. ... Its connections with New England were 

 also verv considerable.'" 



During the first half of the 18th century Bideford's 

 imports of tobacco were second only to London's, but 

 the wars with France caused a decline about the 

 year 1760.^ Barnstaple, situated farther up the River 

 Taw, followed the pattern of Bideford in the rise and 

 decline as well as the nature of its trade. Although 

 rivals, both towns functioned in effect as a single 

 port; Barnstaple and Bideford ships sailed from each 

 other's wharves and occasionalh- the two ports were 

 listed together in the Port Books. As early as 1620 

 seven ships, some of Bideford and some of Barnstaple 

 registry, sailed from Barnstaple for America," but 

 the height of trade between North Devon and the 

 colonies occurred after the Restoration and lasted 

 until the early part of the 18th centiu-y. In 1666, for 

 example, the Satnurl of Bideford and the Philip of 

 Barnstaple sailed for Virginia, despite the dangers 

 of Dutch warfare.* The following year, on August 

 13, 1667, it was reported that 20 ships of the Mrginia 

 fleet, "bovmd to Bideford, Barnstaple, and Bristol 

 have passed into the Severn in order to escape Dutch 

 men-of-war."^ Later, in 1705, we find that the 

 Susanna of Barnstaple, as well as the Victory, ^tint. 



6 Ihid., p. 70. 



* John Watkins, An Essay Towards a History of Bideford in the 

 Counly of Devon, Exeter, 1792, p. 56. 



5 nid., pp. 65, 67-68. 



' Port Book, Barnstaple, 1620, Public Record Office, London 

 (hereinafter referred to as Port Book), E 1 90/947. 



s Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 1911, vol. 19, 

 p. 31. 



* Ihid., quoting Sainsbury Abstracts, p. 184. 



22 



BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .\ND TECHNOLOGY 



