Richborough Estates, the developer behind a 160-home estate in the village has agreed to fund an extension at Bampton Primary School.
Witney Gazette September 20th 2014. The developer behind a 160-home estate in the village has agreed to fund an extension at Bampton Primary School. Richborough Estates, which was granted planning permission by West Oxfordshire District Council in March, will also invest in
bus stops, the village library and public art projects
as part of its developer contributions for the scheme. More than 330 residents signed a petition opposing the development, which will include a combination of one to five-bedroom houses, saying it was over-development and could lead to further flooding.
Bampton Morris dancers c1924/5 outside the Elephant & Castle.
The sign over the pub door says Posting House, Horses, Carriages, Brakes. Personal attention given, Albert Townsend. The 3rd and 4th lines are hard to read which is a pity but it looks like 'For Hire All Trains Met On The Shortest Notice.
On 23rd September 1935 the Townsend family moved across the road to Castle View and made a farm of it having much more room to fatten more pigs.
This sign used to be outside the Royal Corps of Signals in Weald and was rescued when the RAF took over the site in September 1969. It is now in the museum of the Royal Signals and has been there since 2007.
This Frog Prince was made by Jo Lewington. I asked her to tell me about it and she said :-
"This dates from my sculptor phase in the ‘80s. I made 3 or 4 of these. One was sent to the head of a fashion house in California ( I remember it as Mr Gucci , but that can’t be right, but he was famous). I think the one in the picture went to another rich American. I can’t remember what happened to the rest but there is one somewhere in the Cotswolds. I made postcards and a leaflet and distributed them around Chelsea Garden Show, but at that time I was off to India for a year and my career as a sculptor ended."
A British Railways Poster for the Witney to Fairford line including information on goods carried and some of the personnel who worked on the railway at Witney. They include station master S. V. Jones, chief goods clerk F. G. Law, supervisory goods foreman S. Wiltshire and ganger J. Thomas (permanent way.)
For what feels like years and years, WODC have been putting together a Local (housing) Plan and at long last, it was agreed by the governments planning inspectorate. All far too late to stop the speculative developments which WODC could not stop in Bampton which resulted in 160 house in New Road, a further 160 to be built at the bottom of Mt Owen Rd and the fight to stop yet another development between the Aston and Buckland Road continues (as at Sept 2019). A development on the east side of Station Road following on from the two semi detached bungalows has been granted and are being built now (Sept 2019). 7 new dwellings at Weald Manor farm have been built, Glebe Farm farther down Weald Street are building 6 as I write and a 7th will be added to them. The surgery is at full stretch, no road improvements have been made, people are parking on pavements, some of the new houses in New Road have experienced sewerage back-flows. There are so many cars parked in Bampton now it's nearly always impossible to pass them without causing a motorist coming in the other direction from having to stop and wait
John Chipperfield usually has a page in the Witney Gazette where he recalls events in times past. This item recalls the time in 1978 when Susan Morris, pictured at the organ in Clanfield Church played for 10 hours taking turns with John White and John Goodrun. It was to accompany the Flower Festival in the church. Susan is still playing at Clanfield (2019)
In 1978 the vicar looked after both Bampton and Clanfield churches. By 1970, the vicar of the time lived in the vicarage in Bampton and was responsible for the churches not only of Clanfield and Bampton but Lew, Aston and Shifford as well.
The people of Bampton always pull together when push comes to shove. Residents got fed up with the litter about the paths and lanes and organised a mass clean-up. This article gives much more detail about it.
