Selection of Photographs BA5EDB This is a 14th century hooded fireplace in Ham Court in the room called the solar. Seen here is 1946. It is a small room in the large farmhouse and would soon have been made warm with the fire, ideal for warming up after a day's hunting in the cold. BA676F An old drawing of Ham Court, sometime referred to as Bampton Castle. In the 1870s the turret walling was restored and an addition put on the south side of the building. The old building seen in this picture was once the west gate house to the castle. The archway has been filled in on both sides to make a fully enclosed farmhouse. BA80E7 This is the east side of what was the western gatehouse of Bampton Castle. The archway was originally open on both sides of the gatehouse to allow carriages to come and go. BA9E81 Ham Court farmhouse, originally the western gatehouse of Bampton Castle. BA05A2 This boss is in the middle of one of the two rooms on the first floor of Ham Court which are directly above what was once the passageway through the gatehouse in the west wall of the castle. BAC569 This is the western aspect of the west gatehouse of Bampton Castle, which is now Ham Court Farm. Internal door in Ham Court
George Talbot the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, was the only son of Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury and Mary Dacre. As a young man George saw military service under Protector Somerset in the ‘Rough Wooings’ in Scotland and he married Gertrude Manners, daughter of the 1st Earl of Rutland, by whom he had six children, although she died in 1566. In March 1568, he married Bess of Hardwick, the wealthy widow of Sir William Cavendish of Chatsworth, who was a year older than himself. The first creation of Earl of Shrewsbury occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counsellors. Roger thus became one of the most powerful magnates in England, ruling most of Shropshire and holding lands in eleven other counties, and included most of Bampton which continued to belong to the family through future generations. Roger was succeeded in 1094 by his younger son Hugh, his elder son Robert of Belléme succeeding to his lands in Normandy. On Hugh's death in 1098 the earldom passed to his brother Robert. More information about the Earls of Shrewsbury can be found in the pdf attached.
