Bampton Devon Family History Guide

Bampton is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Devon. Petton is a chapelry of Bampton.

Parish church: St. Michael

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1653
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1609

Nonconformists include: Baptist

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BAMPTON, a small town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a hundred, in Devon. The town stands in a vale, on the rivulet Batherne, about a mile above its influx to the Exe, 7 miles N of Tiverton r. station. It was anciently called Bahantune, Bannton, Bathampton, and Bathrumpton; and it disputes with Bampton in Oxfordshire being the Beamdune of the Saxon chroniclers, where, in 614, the Britons were defeated with great slaughter by Cynegilsus, king of the West Saxons. It is supposed by some to occupy the site of a Roman station; and it had a castle, erected in 1336 by a member of the Cogan family, on a knoll at the east end of Castle street, now called the Mount, and crowned with firs.

The town consists of stone houses, irregularly scattered over a space of about ½ a mile; and has picturesque environs. It was formerly a borough, and sent two members to parliament; it was governed by a portreeve and other officers; and it is now a seat of petty sessions It has a post office under Tiverton, and two good inns; and it formerly had a manufacture of serges and pottery. A weekly market is held on Saturday; fairs, on Whit Tuesday and the last Thursday in Oct.; and great markets for cattle, sheep, and Exmoor ponies, on the last Wednesday in Nov. and the Wednesday before Lady-day. John de Bampton, a Carmelite friar, who first read lectures on “Aristotle” at Cambridge, and died in 1391, was a native.

The parish includes also the hamlets of Petton and Shillingford. Acres, 7,785. Real property, £9,144. Pop., 1,971. Houses, 397. Limestone is worked, in about 15 quarries, for supplying the country as far as to South Molton. There is a chalybeate spring of some celebrity. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £130. Patron, Rev. E. Rendell. The church is decorated and perpendicular English; consists of nave, aisles, transept, and chancel, with western tower; and contains a fine carved oak screen, and mounments of the Bourchiers. A small chapel of ease is at Petton; and a small Baptist chapel in the town. Charities, £9.

The subdistrict contains four other parishes; and is in the district of Tiverton. Acres, 17,718. Pop., 3,296. Houses, 631. The hundred contains seven parishes; and is noted principally for its quarries of limestone, and its fine breed of sheep. Acres, 28,757. Pop., 6,628. Houses, 1,360.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

BAMPTON (St. Michael), a market-town and parish, in the union of Tiverton, hundred of Bampton, Collumpton and N. divisions of Devon, 21 miles (N. by E.) from Exeter, and 162 (W. by S.) from London; containing 2049 inhabitants. Bampton is supposed by Bishop Gibson to have been the Beamdune of the Saxon Chronicle, where, in 614, the Britons were defeated with great slaughter by Cynegils, King of the West Saxons. Other antiquaries, referring this event to Bindon in Dorset, derive its ancient names Bathermtown and Bathrumpton from the river Batherm, which flows into the Exe, about one mile and a quarter below the town; and thence, by contraction, deduce the present name. The parish contains between 7000 and 8000 acres: the surface is marked by numerous hills formed of limestone; the soil runs through several varieties, and is liable, especially in the valleys, to inundations from the rivers Exe and Batherm.

The town is pleasantly situated in a vale; the houses are irregularly built of stone, and amply supplied with water. The principal branch of manufacture is that of serge: limestone is obtained in large quantities, and of excellent quality. The market is on Wednesday: fairs are held on Whit-Tuesday and the last Thursday in October; and on the Wednesday before Lady-day and the last Thursday in November are two large markets, both of which are well attended. At the fairs and great markets a large number of sheep are sold, which, from the excellence of the pastures, are remarkable for size and flavour. A portreeve, two constables, and other officers, are appointed annually by the lord of the manor.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £20; net income, £118; patron, E. Rendell, Esq.; impropriator, Charles Chichester, Esq., whose tithes have been commuted for £720: the vicar has a glebe of two acres. The church is a spacious structure in the early English style, containing several monuments to the earls of Bath. At Petton, four miles distant from the church, is a chapel, in which divine service is performed every Sunday; at Shillingford are the ruins of an old chapel. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. In the town is a spring strongly impregnated with iron. The site of an ancient castle erected in 1336, by a member of the family of Cogan, is still discernible on a mount. John de Bampton, a Carmelite monk, and the first who read Aristotle publicly at Cambridge, was a native of the town.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848