Home > Devon > Barnstaple > Three Tuns Three Tuns
	Picture source: Clive Schneidau
The Three Tuns was situated at 80 High Street. This grade-II listed pub is now used as a branch of Pizza Express.
Listed building details:
House and shop, now public house. c1600. Thoroughly renovated by Bruce Oliver in 1946 (Pevsner). Timber-framed front above stone rubble base; natural slate roof, hipped at end; right end stack with handmade brick shaft. Gallery and back block plan with entrance to the left and gallery over the right; courtyard filled in. 3 storeys and attic. Front elevation mostly 1946 by Oliver, in a C17 manner, the second floor jettied; windows glazed with leaded panes. 5-light oak mullioned ground-floor window with Tudor arched lights; chamfered doorway to left appears to be partly original. First-floor oriel on timber brackets with a hipped slate roof and oak moulded mullioned and transomed windows, 4 lights to the centre and one to each return. Two 2-light shallow second-floor oriels on brackets. Roof hipped to front with over-sized gabled dormer, the gable and sides slate-hung; 4-light casement window. Interior: mixture of original and 1946 features. Several door frames and doors are probably Oliver's, as well as the simple C17-style stair to the first floor, which rises rear of the courtyard from the back block. Ground floor has 4 step-stopped chamfered cross beams and exposed joists. Front fireplace on right-hand wall is C20; rear fireplace has a chamfered step-stopped lintel and bread oven. Joisting of passage survives on ground floor. First-floor front room has 4 moulded cross beams, probably 1940s, with scroll stops with carved leaves. Front fireplace appears to be original with a cranked lintel. Rear fireplace renovated but preserves one hollow-chamfered jamb and a moulded corbel, moulded timber lintel with carved leaf stops. C17 wall panelling with evidence of re-cycling. Gallery timber-framed to the courtyard. The trusses supporting gallery roof have been altered, with one collar removed; restored 6-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window overlooking courtyard from gallery. Small section of C17 timber balustrade to stair up to second-floor room, which was not seen on survey. Roof not seen on survey but likely to be of interest. In spite of the extensive reconstruction work, this is a fine example of a C17 urban house where the gallery and back block arrangement is still legible.
Do you have any anecdotes, historical information, updates or photos of this pub? Become a contributor by submitting them here. Like this site? Follow us on You can also make email contact with other ex-customers and landlords of this pub by adding your details to this page.
Other Photos
Picture source: Jamie Sollis
Picture source: Hania Franek