Entry from White's Devonshire 1878:
BAMPTON, a parish and small market town, chiefly built of stone, is situated in the deep valley of the small river Batherm, about a mile above its confluence with the Exe, 7 miles N. of Tiverton, and 9 miles S.W. of Wivelscombe. It gives name to a hundred, and is in Tiverton union and county court district, Cullompton petty sessional division, Bampton polling district of North Devon, Exeter archdeaconry, and Tiverton West rural deanery. The parish extends 4 miles N. of the town, to the bold hills on the borders of Somerset, and nearly two-thirds of it are in pasturage. It contained 1928 inhabitants (990 males, 638 females) in 1871, living in 423 houses, on 7785 acres of land. (See also ' Vital Statistics,' page 82). The parish is divided into the .Eastern, Western, Petton, and Town Quarters, and comprises the hamlets of Petton and Shillingford, and several extensive limestone quarries. Bampton is supposed to have been the Beamdune of the ancient historians, where the Britons were defeated by Cynegilous, King of the West Saxons, in 614, when the former are said to have lost 2046 men. The town is irregularly built, and has a chalybeate spring. Its weekly markets on Wednesday and Saturday are of trivial consequence; but it has two great markets for sheep and cattle, on the Wednesday before Lady-day, and the last Wednesday in November; and also two fairs on Whit-Tuesday, and the last Thursday in October. The latter is a great horse fair, and one of the largest sheep fairs in the West of England, as many as 14,000 being often brought to it. The sheep bred in this neighbourhood are remarkable for their size, and great numbers of them are sold at Bampton fairs. The woollen trade was formerly carried on here. but it began to decline in 1772, and was given up many years ago. The honour or barony of Bampton, or Bathermton, was given by William the Conqueror to Walter Douay, and afterwards passed to the Paganell and Cogan families. In 1336, Richard Cogan had a license from the Crown to castellate his mansion here, and to enclose his wood of Uffculme and 300 acres of land for a park. A mound near the town denotes the site of the Castle, but all traces of the building disappeared some centuries ago. Captain W. Leir, who has a mansion at Combhead, is lord of the manor; and at the court leet, a portreeve, bailiff, &c., are appointed; but the parish is all freehold and belongs to many proprietors, the largest of whom is C. A. W. Troyte, Esq., of Huntsham Court; but S. Lucas, Esq.. trustees of the late C. E. Rowliffe, Esq., and M. Bere, W. Rowliffe, T. C. Daniel, R. Loosemore, and J. Collins, Esqrs., Sir Henry Ferguson Davie, Bart, Captain W. Lear, W. N. Row, J. Trade, J. Badcock, J. Harris, and the Hon. M. Rolle have estates here. The CHURCH (St. Michael) is a large ancient structure, with a tower and six bells.. The interior has a finely ornamented arched ceiling, and a carved oak screen. The church was repaired in.1872 at a coat of £300, given principally by Mr. Philips. Among its monuments is one to John Tristram, who died at Duvale in 1722. It had three small endowed chantries, and was appropriated to Buckland Abbey. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £21 11s. 8d., and now at £150, is in the patronage of J. Chichester Nagle, Esq., the impropriator of the great tithes which were commuted in 1843. The Rev. Edward Rendell, B.A. is the incumbent, and has 3A. 2R. 17p. of glebe. PETTON CHAPEL., about 4 miles N.E. of the town, is a small chapel of ease, which was rebuilt in 1847; but that at Shillingford has been dilapidated many years. In the town is a neat BAPTIST CHAPEL, in the lancet-Gothic style, and also a BIBLE CHRISTIAN CHAPEL. The SCHOOL BOARD was formed on March 31, 1875, and now consists of Mr. Richard Densham (chairman), Mr. Francis Davys (vice,), the Revs. Edward Rendell, B.A., and Edward Scott, and Mr. John T. Periam. Mr. Thomas Rowe Densham is clerk. In 1876 the parochial Infant School, built by subscription in 1858, was transferred to the Board, who are now erecting a new school, at Shillingford, to accommodate sixty scholars, at a cost, including furniture and building a teachers' residence, of £1000, and a FREE SCHOOL was founded in 1831 by Mrs. Elizabeth Penton, who endowed it with £2200 Five per cent. Stock, for the education of 100 children. It was further endowed by Mrs. Susanna Webbe with £1000 like Stock. The poor parishioners have 26s. a year. distributed in bread weekly, left by Sir John Acland in 1619, and paid by Exeter Corporation. Out of a farm at Bishop's Hull, the poor have £4, and the churchwardens 16s. yearly, left by Robert Mogridge, in 1646. The poor have also the following yearly sums, viz. :Ñ36s. left by John Tristram, in 1628, out of Little Pilemore; and £2 4s. left by Elizabeth Lucas, in 1808, out of an estate now now belonging to S. Lucas, Esq. Bampton Bridge was rebuilt, in 1827, at the cost of £654. John de Bampton, a Carmelite friar, who first read lectures in Cambridge on the works of Aristotle, was a native of this parish, and died in 1891. .
POST and. MONEY ORDER OFFICE, SAVINGS BANK, GOVERNMENT ANNUITY and INSURANCE OFFICE, at Mrs. Harriet Catford's, Fore Street. Letters are received at 6 a.m. and 3 p.m., and despatched at 7.25 p.m. via Tiverton. Morebath is the nearest railway station.
