Photograph showing the service and crowds taking part in the inauguration of the War Memorial in 1920

Sam Bennett born (1865-1951) from Ilmington, a frequent dancer and musician in Bampton, this photo dated 1920
Sam had the distinction of being called “a rotter” by Cecil Sharp. He was responsible for reviving the Morris tradition in the Warwickshire village of Ilmington. Although a fiddle player himself, he learned the tunes from a local pipe and tabor player, Tom Foster, who “no longer had enough teeth to hold the pipe in place” In the process of reviving the dances, Bennett did some improving and inventing along the way. To Sharp, this was inexcusable meddling; what he most treasured about traditional dance was that is was supposedly not the work of individual creativity, but of centuries of continuous evolution by the common, preferably uneducated people. Bennett was recorded in 1933 by a Harvard academic, James Madison Carpenter. Being a self-taught fiddler, and having learned his tunes directly from a piper, it is little wonder that his playing, though very rhythmic, was plain and unadorned except with frequent open-string drones.

Photo of Billy Dewe with another Morris Dancer possibly standing outside a cottage in Lavender Square

Grace Glanville talks about her time working as a maid at Weald Manor in the 1920s

The map was produced in 1921. The first map is has been reused to show where council houses were to be built on the south side of New Road and where the sewerage pipes were to be laid to the sewerage works along the Buckland Road.

Mains sewerage came to Bampton in 1958 after a long struggle and at a cost of £105,000. Miss Marjorie Pollard was the driving force but in the end, it was the death of Horace Morse who emptied the 'night soil' buckets twice a week which made it imperative. Jack Bellinger was the first manager of the sewerage works.

3 Large ordnance Survey Maps used by Hadgood and Mammatt Auctioneers and Estate Agents from Witney. Published in 1921 price £5/- and £6/8d. Points of interest are Highmoor Brook, Plantation, Ham Court, Deanery Farm, Churchgate, Vicarage, Manor House, and Weald Manor House, old gravel pit and Beam Cottage, Calais Farm, Primrose Cottages, Fisher's Bridge

Newspaper cutting 'Anglers News' June 1921

This map of 1921 covers the area from Plantation south to Cowleaze Corner and east as far as the Elephant and Castle.

What was a watercourse off the Highmoor Brook to land with The Deanery can be clearly seen and was used for fish farming.

Cobb House is the only vicarage by now, the other two houses of the three-portion being in private hands, one Churchgate house the other now called Kilmore House.

Glebelands houses were not yet built, they didn't come until the 1960s.

The lake with Weald Manor House to its left used to freeze over and the owners of the Manor House used to invite locals to skate on it. Mr & Mrs Colvile lent the field to the west of the lake to the local football club but as it wasn't large enough for the side to play in a certain league, they had to find a new home and for a while used a field at the east end of New Road.

Ordnance Survey Map Dated 1922. showing villages from Grafton Clanfield, Alvescot, Bampton south to Thames, Aston, Chimney
There are pencil notes on the map difficult to read'
The places printed on map are as follows
Bampton
Baptist Chapel
Beam Cottage
Bridge Street
Broad Street
Broad Street
Calais Farm
Castle remains
Cheapside
Church Lane
Churchgate House
Coalpit Farm
Deanery Farm
Elephant and Castle
Fishers Bridge
Gas Works
Ham Court
Highmoor Brook
Lady Well
Manor Cottage
Manor House
Mill Barn
Mill Bridge
Mount Owen Farm
New Inn Lane
Old Gravel Pit
Plantation
Primrose Cottages
Sandford Villa
Swan Inn
The Grange
Vicarage
Water Tower
Weald Manor House
Windmill House
Wrights hill
Lower Haddon Farm
Ven Bridge
Elmwood House

Alvescot
Alvescot House
Alvescot Lodge
Alvescot Mill
Alvescot Station
Bates Land Farm
Buxhill Farm
Manor Farm Alvescot
Milestone Road
Old Chapel Pit
Plough Inn
Rectory Farm
Red Lion PH
Royal George PH
Shield Farm
Smithy
St Peters Church
The Rectory
Vine Cottage

Clanfield
Little Clanfield
Grafton Green Farm
Little Clanfield Mill
Manor Farm

Radcot
Radcot New Buildings
Langley Lane
Langford Brook
Ashton Pill Bridge
Swan Inn
Cradle Bridge (Foot)
Radcot Bridge
River Thames
Entrenchment The Garrison
Towing Path
Radcot Lock
Sharney Brook
Burroway Brook
Burroway Bridge
Sharney Bridge
River Thames or Isis
Old Mans Bridge

Clanfield
Manor Farm
Broadwell Brook
Chestlion Farm
Clanfield Weir Farm
Engineering Work
Friar's Court Monastry
Pound Lane
St Stephens
Windmill Farm

Black Bourton
East Gloucestershire Branch Railway
Garsons Copse
High House
Manor Farm
Moat House
St Marys Church
Vicarage
Corn Mill
Lower Farm

Buckland Road
Boat House
Buckland Marsh
Great Brook
Isle of Wight Bridge
Meadow Farm
Tadpole Bridge
Tenfoot Bridge

Aston, Cote and Chimney
Aston House
Bull Inn
Bull Street
Cote House
Cote Lodge
Duckend Farm
Girls Training Home
Ham Lane
Kingsway Farm
North Street
Old Clay Pit
St James Church

Yelford
Claywell Farm
Elmbank
Manor Farm
Newhouse Farm
Rickless Hill
St Swithins Church
Yelford Manor
Ditcham Wood
Rushey Butts
Lew Lodge

This photograph, taken in 1922 according to the date on the bottom right corner, is of a class at Bampton National School in Church View. It is sad that we don't know the names of any of the children in the picture.