Newspaper article in Oxford mail mentioning local pubs. In Bampton, The Malt Shovel and Elephant and Castle; The Strickland Arms in Ducklington and The Horse and Jockey in Black Bourton, The Plough at Alvescot, and the Lamb at Filkins. John Kent, 85, was the Landlord of the Malt Shovel for 34 years, he originally came from Suffolk and was a gamekeeper in Lincolnshire and Bradwell Grove. The Malt Shovel was in Lavender Square and there is an inscription on the chimney showing the date of 1659. It used to be a Malt house. The Elephant and Castle in Bridge Street was about 350 years old and had a thatched roof at this time (1957), the landlord was Clarence Dalton, ex RAF, who had another pub in London, The Prince of Orange at Greenwich. In 1957, the Landlord of the Talbot Hotel, an old coaching inn in Market Square, was a Mr Flood, and the inn itself was about 500 years old. The New Inn (now Morris Clown) was also a coaching Inn and the landlord was W.F. Wagner. The landlord of the Horse and Jockey at Black Bourton was Mr Alan George Burgess and the landlord of The Plough at Alvescot was Mr Leonard Killick, and the landlord of the Lamb at Filkins was Cyril Clements.
From left to right, Marion MacNab, Cath Bradbury, Les MacNab (Landlord Jubilee), Maggie Mace, Don Bradbury (Landlord Horseshoe), John Rainey (Landlord Elephant & Castle), Tom Mace, Harry Walton (Landlord Talbot) and Helen Rainey.
From left to right, Marion MacNab, Cath Bradbury, Les MacNab (Landlord Jubilee), Maggie Mace, Don Bradbury (Landlord Horseshoe), John Rainey (Landlord Elephant & Castle), Tom Mace, Harry Walton (Landlord Talbot) and Helen Rainey.
Article in the Limited Edition Magazine of Oxfordshire in 2000 about Don Rouse having been connected with the Bampton Mummers for 50 years. Characters in the play, the script of which has been handed down through the ages by word of mouth, include The Doctor, Jack Finney, The Turkish Knight, the Royal O'Prussia King, Tom the Tinker, Father Christmas, Robin Hood and St George or King George. The Bampton Mummers are organised by The SPAJERS and they collect funds by performing at private homes and pubs on Christmas Eve every year.
Mrs Lucy Martin in 1960 in the Roman Catholic chapel which was upstairs in the Eagle, Church View. The Eagle was built and owned in 1828 by the stonemason William Stone who called it the Masons Arms. He and his wife ran it from 1850 to 1860. By the late 19th century it was called The Eagle and it became a private dwelling in 1991. The Roman Catholics used the upstairs as their church. Lucy Martin was the wife of the licensee. Roman Catholic children who attended the National School next door used to have their assembly upstairs in this chapel. Downstairs, there was a little tuckshop and window out of which they served the children. The upstairs ceased to be the RC chapel when Mr and Mrs Martin left and after that, the Roman Catholics said Mass upstairs in the Town Hall for a few years before changing to use the room now used as the library in the Old Grammar school. This was not a nice place for a service because the room was for hire and there could have been a party with beer and lots of cigarette smoke the night before making it decidedly smelly. In 1976 the wishes of the Anglican and RC church goers came to pass and since then Roman Catholics have used St Mary's for Mass at 9am on Sundays and come out just in time for the bellringers and choir members to go in to ring / have a practice before the Anglican service.
