The pub in the High Street named The Morris Clown (as at 2018) began life as The George. Steve the present landlord found the ancient wooden name board in the cellar but it fell to dust when he tried to lift it. A long time ago it became the New Inn as seen in the first photograph which is at least pre 1920 because the cottage at the est end of the Market Square is still standing and that was pulled down to make way for the War Memorial. Over the door can be seen a sign which says Clinch's Entire Eagle Brewery, Witney. There is another line underneath which sadly is not readable. The lower board says Commercial Inn, Lila Clack and two more lines of text which I can't read. The opposite side of the road is the department store owned by T. W. Pembrey which ran the length of present day No7 High Street, Lesta House, Strawberry Cottage and across Bushey Row, then called New Inn Street the shop on the corner. On the end wall of the New Inn on the third picture text can be seen which in part says Commercial something and Posting House. A little of this lettering can still be seen in 2018. What was Pembrey's is now Busby's department store. Note the thatched hay rick camera side of Lime Tree House. Thatching hay ricks kept the hay in good condition and shed the rain off; rick thatching was a specialist job and in Bampton Ben Tanner and his brother were particularly skilled and Reg Rouse was also.
On September 11th 2010 I spotted this large, white fungus growing on the lime trees outside the North side of St Mary's. I found it to be very hard, it was impossible to make a dent in it.
This is the YouTube address for the filmed interview we did with Patrick about his working life. His training for being a butcher and where it was done are really interesting and I don't know if it is still available today. Patrick ran the butchers shop in Bridge Street for many years and really enjoyed it. He won prizes for his sausages
This is the Service program for the Thanksgiving Service for Victory held in 1945. As the service sheet was printed in London it was probably a standard service to be held across the UK
This report on the Survey & Plan of Bampton was done under the guidance of M W Robinson FRICS MTPI in October 1966. It makes very interesting reading and the conclusions are as relevant today as they were then. The topics covered are 1. Population 2. Situation 3. Character 4. The people 5. Shopping 6. Principal road connections 7. Schools 8. Open spaces 9. Social facilities, Public Services etc 10. Surface water drainage 11. Sewage disposal 12. Water supply and much more. It makes a very interesting read particularly in the light of all the dwellings that have been built here since October 1966, all those being built now (Jan 2017) and those being proposed when considering the access into Bampton has not been improved yet in 1966 one of the conclusions states was that Bampton could not take further development, a by-pass was not possible and no further space for parking other than possibly in Church Street could be made. Houses have since been built on the land in Church Street
Ham Court along with the barns and outbuildings plus 22 acres was put up for sale by Jesus College Oxford in 2010 and was bought by Emma Bridgewater. This is the sales brochure and I'm sorry to say the scanned versions given to me clearly had something wrong with the colour but the text is perfect. The diagrams of the first and second floor are very interesting. See also entry 2017.529
A letter from Vic Legg to Dave Rose accepting the invitation to attend the Bampton Traditional Morris Men's party November 1981 along with Pete Cock. About 1980/1 Trigg Morris were guests on Bampton's day of dance. They will be coming up from Bodmin in Cornwall. Pete and Vic were members of Trigg Morris in Bodmin, Cornwall.
Bampton's C of E Primary School and Nursery produced this delightful leaflet to explain what the school's aims are and how they achieve them. It talks of learning together with Respect, Friendship and Perseverance. The school is an Academy and part of The Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust (ODST) as well as being being in partnership with Burford School and 9 primary schools in the area.
Robin Shuckburgh has been chairman of Bampton Community Archive for about 8 years (as at 2017) and over-seen the raising of £250,000 to repair the roof of the Old Grammar School in Church View and make the upstairs a usable space again. We are extremely fortunate in Bampton to have people with skills and energy which they are prepared to give freely for the benefit of the whole community.
