Bampton

Bampton is a small town a few miles south east of the Exmoor National Park. Its known origins are Saxon, although the Romans had a fort on the edge of the parish. It is well known in Devon for three events, its participation in the Britain in Bloom Competition, Bampton Open Day in August, and Bampton Charter Fair held on the last Thursday in October.
Bampton is situated on the River Batherm, and the 14th century parish church of St. Michael and All Angels sits in the middle of the town. The pleasant streets of stone and rendered cottages, mostly Georgian in style, are adorned with window boxes and hanging baskets during the summer months. Many of the houses are made from stone quarried locally. The church is a fine building rich in history and the ancient yew-trees are encased in stone to protect the livestock which used to graze in the churchyard. The old stocks can still be seen in the church.

Bampton in Bloom

There is a "Town Trail" guide available locally, giving you a brief history and walking tour around the town. This peaceful mid-Devon town lies between Dulverton and Tiverton. The selection of shops, inns and eating places makes Bampton a good place to stop for a while. Award winning floral displays, a fine church with Saxon cross, Bampton Fair is held at the end of October. The whole of the centre of Bampton is a conservation area, and there are almost 100 listed buildings and other objects within the parish.

Bampton in Bloom

In recent times, Bampton has become famous for its floral displays - Bampton in Bloom. The town has won the national Britain in Bloom competition no less than six times, the last being in the millennium year. This has been possible because of the members of the local community who help every year to make the town spectacularly beautiful with tubs of plants, hanging baskets, and the themed planting of permanent beds.

St.Michael & All Angels, Bampton

Bampton Charter - Bampton Fair existed long before King Henry III granted it a Royal Charter in 1258 and it has been held on the last Thursday of October ever since. It is one of the oldest surviving Charter Fairs in the country. Music, crafts, arts, street market and pony fair. An interesting and fun day out for all the family. Tiverton being the southernmost boundary of Exmoor, the traveller must turn back up the main road again. The Bampton road branches off near the junction of the River Bathern with the Exe, and swings north-eastward over the hills. Bampton is chiefly known for its pony fair, which is held on the last Thursday in October. Every year the moorland farmers round up their Exmoor ponies, brand them, and select those which they want to keep. The others are driven helter-skelter to the fair, wild and wicked and terrified, in a whirl of quick little hoofs and tossing manes. The young ponies have scarcely ever seen a man, let alone been handled, and it needs perseverance and skill to drive them. The pure-bred Exmoor pony should be brown, with a mealy nose, and the long glossy mane and tail which are characteristic of the breed.   They are seen to best advantage at Exford Horse Show, on the second Wednesday in August. Formerly they were in demand as pit ponies, and were shipped to Wales. They make good children's hunters, being narrow and very sure-footed, although their tricksy temperament needs some degree of horsemanship.

Before the Conquest, Bampton was part of the royal demesne. William I. gave it to Walter de Douay ; and Domesday Book records that the population was then 68, including 15 swineherds rendering 106J- pigs. The latter suggest the presence of large oak-woods, besides a certain difficulty over dividing the half-pig. There was also a mill, and a chalybeate spring. The total value of the township was assessed at £18.

In 1257, the Court of Forest Law met at Ilchester to consider " Pleas of the Venison of Axemore," and reported the following story: " It is presented by the foresters . . . and .... the verderers.....and proved
that William Plumpule, Thomas Segyn, Robert of Bromstrete (Broomstreet, near Culbone) and William the son of William le Tort are evil doers to the venison, who have not come, and they were not attached because they were not found. Therefore let them be exacted and outlawed, and the Sheriff is ordered to cause them to come, &c, from this day. ... It is presented by the same persons and proved that on the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle in the thirty-fourth year (December 21st 1249), William Herlewyne and his three companions, whose names are unknown, took one stag in the wood of Hauckrigge (Hawkridge) and carried him to Bauntone (Bampton), and William has not come, and he was not attached because he was not found. Therefore let him be exacted and outlawed. And the Sheriff of Devon is ordered to cause him to come, etc, at Ivelcestre on Monday next after the feast af Saint Andrew the Apostle. An inquisition was made concerning the stag by four townships to wit Hauckrigge (4 shillings) Dulvertone (5 shillings) Wynes-brd (half a mark) and Wytepol (4 shillings)  who could find out nothing else therein. And because they did not come fully, etc, therefore they are in mercy." It is interesting to notice the severity and perseverance with which that barren countryside was punished for the theft of one wild red deer.

St Michael and All Angels church in Bampton
© 2009 Mike Watson www.mike-watson.co.uk

In 1336, Richard Cogan, Lord of the Manor of Bampton, obtained a licence to castellate his mansion house at Bampton, and empark his woods and lands at Uffculme. The castle has since been demolished. The church once belonged to the Prior of Bath, but was given by Act of Parliament to the Abbot of Buckland in 1439. There are other traces of religious houses in neighbouring villages. The village of Clay-hanger, to the east, belonged to the Knights Templars, who built a hospital and church there. At Canonleigh are the remains of a monastery founded by William Claville during the reign of Henry II. as a Priory of the Austin Canons. In Edward I.'s reign Maude de Clare, Countess of Gloucester, converted it into a nunnery of the same order. A market was granted to the village in 1286. Wadham was one of the few Devonshire manors noticed in Domesday Book, for it had belonged to the same Saxon family since the time of Edward the Confessor. The hamlet of Holcombe Rogus took its name from Rogo, a tenant under Baldwin the Sheriff. It belonged to the Bluett family from 1343 until the last squire, Colonel Francis Bluett, was killed at the siege of Lyme in 1644.

The main road from Bampton runs north-westward. On the left a lane leads to Raddington, whose church has a panelled roof and fine screen, and Chip-stable, whose church was rebuilt in 1869, and has some good window-tracery and clustered columns with angel capitals. Beyond lies the prettily-named Huish Champflower. The church is of the Decorated period, with a Perpendicular tower. One window, east of the nave, preserves some original glass, and there is an arcade of clustered columns with foliated capitals. The barrow on Heydon Hill has been excavated recently.

www.bampton.org.uk
 

Contributed by: Bob Jones