Pictures

This is the New Inn which was converted from a public house to a dwelling about 1971 . It advertises Starkey, Knight and Ford Prize Medal Ales and Stout. It became The Maltings (No 29 Pilton Street) and Oriel Cottage (No 30 Pilton Street).

The building is Grade II Listed, formerly known as New Inn (part). House, at one time a public house. C17 with later alterations. It is rendered with a slate roof, gabled at ends; lateral stack with old brick shaft. Somewhat altered but likely to have been a C17 cross-wing to No.29. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical front, gabled to the front. Deep eaves. One ground and one first-floor window. Ground floor has continuous fascia, broken forward over the projecting bay window with small panes in the front and 4 on the returns. C20 front door to left. The first floor has a canted oriel window with moulded cornice, the window supported on 3 curved timber brackets.
HISTORICAL NOTE: it was recorded as an inn in 1859, named after Sir William Fraser, but sold in 1868 and renamed the New Inn. It was de-licensed in 1971 and divided into two houses.
(Information taken from 'British Listed Buildings' (Reed, MA: Pilton, its Past and People: Ilfracombe: 1985).

In 1941 the entry in Kelly's Directory of Barnstaple and Neighbourhood was:
Perkins, Mrs. Elizabeth, New Inn, 29, Pilton St., Pilton.

Starkey, Knight & Ford was a brewery group in Devon and Somerset. Initially it traded as Starkey, Knight & Co. from 1887 in Bridgwater and then became Starkey, Knight & Ford in 1895 upon the acquisition of Thomas Ford & Son. They also acquired the Taw Vale Brewery in Barnstaple in 1897. In December 1962, when it owned 400 tied houses, it was acquired by Whitbread. A feature of the Starkey pubs was that they were all painted in black and white - the Windsor Arms in Bradiford was the same. The company's trademark was a wild horse. Thanks to Basil Pidgeon, Bideford for the information on the brewery.

Thanks to Peter and Sheena Ferguson for the photograph.