Dancing on Bridge Street outside Castle View Farm in 1948 George Dafter is the fool

Lower Haddon Farm in the very north of the Bampton area was sold in March 1949. One of these maps was produced by Jackson-Stops of Cirencester the auctioneers and the other was a hand drawn one. They show the names of the fields and what was being grown in them at the time.

Sales brochure for Lower Haddon Farm March 11th 1949

Sales brochure for The Deanery Friday July 29th 1949

Beam Cottage

two maps - A Plan of Lower Hadden Farm from the Auction held in March 1949, and a hand drawn map of same area
Auctioneers were Jackson-Stops (Cirencester)
With hand written field names as follows
Bampton Station Fairford to Oxford GWR
Barnleys Pasture
Big Barleys
Big Row
Black Bourton Road
Bowlie Ground
Bridle Path to Black Bourton
Bridle Road
Broad Close
Cow Leas
Far Hill
Far Limber
Front Field
Furse Hill
Harps
Highmoor Brook
Home Close
Horn Ground
James' Meadow
Little Barleys
Long Meadow
Lower Hadden Farm
Middle Hill
Mill Barn Copse
Near Barleys
Near Limber
Pike Ground
Pond Gardens
Rogers Meadow
Rushey Row
Smart Hill
The Big Monk
Water Meadows
Willow Beds

This picture was taken in the late 1950s or very early 1960s. The names of the people are all printed on the photograph and include
Tony Allam
John Marston
Vernon Cannons
Ted Harding
Geoff Wilson
Jim Sweetingham
Jim Barton
George Dafter
Chris Timms
Fred Mildenhall
Pete Allam
Harry Green
Cyril Smith
Micky Brooks, George Dafter’s nephew

Sam Bennett. He moved to Warwickshire but walked to Bampton to fiddle for the Morris at Whitsun. He would arrive at Mr & Mrs Townsend's Castle Farm on Bridge St and announce 'I be 'ere'. To earn his keep, he'd stay on for a few weeks doing farm work for Mr Townsend.

"The war took away many of the young men, and for the first time in recorded history the Whit Monday performances were suspended during 1917 and 1918. However, Wells had recently taught the dances to a group of men at Alvescot, and on the Whit Monday 1919 two of these stepped into the reformed Bampton set. One stayed only that year, but the older, William Flux, had married a daughter of long-time lead dancer Thomas Tanner, and became the organiser of the team.

This brought him into conflict with Wells - Flux wanted them to dance more at Pubs, Wells at the private houses - and this reached crisis point in 1925. The following year Wells refused to play for them, so both Bertie Clark from Alvescot and Sam Bennett from Ilmington were drafted in to provide music.

In 1927, for the first time in recorded history, two teams appeared on the streets: the old side under Tanner and Flux, and a young side recently raised by Wells. They continued in relatively peaceful co-existence for some years, but by the mid 1930s performances by the Tanner side were more sporadic, with only Wells fielding a team most Whit Mondays.

The final appearance by the Tanner team was in 1941, and it was left to Wells to keep it going during the war, and beyond." Keith Chandler

Photo of George Dafter as fool, and Roy Shergold taken in the 1950s

Photo of 4 children dressed in Fancy Dress, two are named as Hazel Brown and Janet Newman.