[1] Inside is a fine wooden staircase in the Jacobean style with twisted balusters and large carved newels with a Gothic stone fireplace in the entrance hall.

[1] The museum was founded as the North Devon Athenæum in 1888 by William Frederick Rock, who intended it to serve as a replacement for the Barnstaple Literary and Scientific Institute he had created in 1845.

In addition to functioning as a library and museum, the building served as an informal records office for Barnstaple.

[2] The Devon County Library Service occupied the main floor from 1956, relocating from much smaller premises in the Bridge Buildings across the road.

On display in the prehistory gallery are some tusk and bone fragments while whole teeth were taken to the Natural History Museum in London.