The purpose of the Bampton Festival was to celebrate the 350th anniversary of The Old Grammar School. The newspaper article describes the history of the building. The festival was a village-wide celebration which ran fro 13th July to 20th July 1985. The festival included concerts, talks, old photographs, a garden contest, morris dancing and music.
A second Downton Abbey film is being made and once again Saint Mary's church, Churchgate House, the Old Grammar School and the area around the church in Bampton will be used for some of the location shooting.
2012 was very much the early days of Downton Abbey having an effect in Bampton. The prediction of coachloads of American tourists coming was absolutely correct. By 2018 approximately 30,000 visitors went into the Vesey room housed in the building used as the Cottage Hospital in the drama to see the exhibition and memorabilia on sale. The Archive committee to the decision to have quality products only for sale because it is not an exhibition that attracts young children, space is very limited and the people who were coming clearly wanted quality memorabilia.
The staircase to the top floor of the Grammar School was removed in the 1960s when people stood a greater chance of getting to the ground floor by falling through the rotten floor than coming back down the stairs. The Bampton Community Archive members have worked incredibly hard to raise funds on the back of the tourism boost from visitors flocking to Bampton to see the this building which was used as the Cottage Hospital in ITV's Downton Abbey. The grant from WODC means the work to bring the whole building into good heart can begin.