William Nathan 'Jingy' Wells danced, fooled and played the fiddle for Bampton Morris from the late nineteenth century and well into the twentieth.
In this picture he is seen with his fiddle.
The hat, waistcoat, trousers and socks (odd socks) are still cared for by the Bampton Traditional Morris Men.

W Payne & Son, Great Western Railway Co Agents, Bampton and Lechlade. Cab & Omnibus Proprietors, horses, brakes, carriages etc for hire. Cartage contractors and furniture removers. Chief office The Hill, Witney Oxon. Railway depots Bampton, Chipping Norton and Lechlade. The remains of one of their ads in black lettering can be seen on the side of their house which was Castle View in Bridge Street.

This advert is in the 1911 Kelly's Trade Directory

A photograph of a Trojan Tourer 1924 model owned by Doug Read. Douglas Read OBE driving, passengers David Hunt, Bill Bullock, Geoff Hunt.

In alternate years the Bampton Community Archive organises a open garden day called Bampton's Hidden Gardens. Toby Hopkins dressed as a scarecrow as part of the fun.

This threshing machine was used to thresh the grain from the stooks of corn and was the normal way to do this in the first half of the twentieth century, before the combine harvester did the job as the corn was cut in the field.

It was a labour intensive job with people taking stooks from the pile, others lobbed them on to the top where yet more people fed them into the machine. Two ladies and a man can be seen on top of the threshing machine doing this part of the job.

At least one person hooked sacks on to the back to catch the grain while others gathered up the straw and chaff. The straw would have been used for bedding animals under cover in winter and some used as feed.

The whole machine was belt driven - no protection - with power from a steam engine which had men keeping it going in good order. With a live fire in the steam engine, it's no wonder there were fires in the ricks from time to time.

There are 13 people working in this picture. Some have bailing string tied round their calves, probably to stop rats running up as the rick was slowly dismantled.

A threshing machine is nearly always seen working at the Fairford, Faringdon, Filkins & Burford ploughing match held the last Saturday in September on a farm within 16 miles of Lechlade.

This ticket for a tea was found in a pile of bits and pieces when clearing out a garage. Teas were sold to raise funds for the Bampton Horticultural Society. The cost was 6 pence in old money - 6d - so pre decimalisation of February 1971.

New Tale by Comedy Spy Thriller Author.
Article about Steve Sheppard, Bampton Resident who has written two books the A Very Important Teapot and Bored to Death in the Baltics.

Stephen Payne relaxing while enjoying watching the Bampton Morris Men on Bank Holiday Monday.

This letter, dated November 1st 1944 was send by Stan Smith's commanding officer to Stan's father informing him that Stan was missing but may be a POW. He was a POW and near the end of the was became one of the POWs who took part in the what became known as the Long March. They were marched from East Germany keeping ahead of the advancing Russians. Stan walked almost 1,000 miles. He survived.

In 1974 Son Townsend clocked up 50 years as a Morris Dancer and later Fool in Bampton. He first danced out with the side in 1925. To mark the occasion a clock and silver salver were given to Son.
The young dancers left to right behind Son are (I think?) Clive Tanner, Fred Cook, Mat Green and Malcolm Willis.
The young children with their flower garlands are L-R Tim Waller, Emma Carruthers, Louise Walker and Martin Landray