Middle Stone Age |
Flints found south east of Bampton. |
Late Stone Age |
Flints found south east of Bampton. [No proof to date of Bronze or Iron Age Celtic habitation]. |
2nd/3rd Qr. 1st Cent. |
Roman Occupation began. Fort; Roads: Ford Road/Wellington Lane; Frog Street Bampton Down. (?)1st Quarrying. |
Late 7th/ea 8th Cent. |
Saxons. Mound & enclosure. New Town square, farms, market, mill. (New Town = New Tun = Newton [Square]). |
Until 1067 |
Bampton including church and its lands held by Saxon kings then William I; = Royal Manor. |
1067 |
Bampton taken by Norman invasion. |
c1068 |
Norman motte & bailey. Wooden. |
1086 |
First packhorses (2) recorded. |
Latter ½ 11th Cent. |
Substantial stone church on present site. Probably Saxon. |
c1107 |
Bampton church & its lands to Bath Abbey. Chapels at Petton, Denscombe, Diptford, Zeal. (? Saxon in origin). |
1136 |
Siege of Bampton Castle. |
c late 12th Cent. |
Stone mansion on motte. Castellated and walled under licence 1336. |
1180 |
Bampton being referred to as Borough. (?)First of the fairs. |
Late 1300’s |
Bampton second largest clothmaking town in Devon after Barnstaple. |
1430 |
Chantry Chapel in existence at Forde. (?)St. Nicholas. |
1444 |
Bampton church and its lands appropriated by Buckland Abbey. |
1450 |
North aisle and Rood Screen built. Part of Swan Hotel built. |
c1483 |
Two yew trees planted. |
1536 |
Castle last in occupation. |
c1540 |
9 West Street built. |
1553-1875 |
Rectory of Bampton (advowson & tithes) in lay hands. Then to Cathedral Chapter. |
c1580 |
7-11 Briton Street built. Converted into 3 1620. |
17th Century |
Packhorses taking mail to London. |
(?)1607 |
Castle collapsed during earthquake. |
1620’s |
Boys’ School in Bampton. |
1645 |
Civil War skirmish. H Q Devon Clubmen. Bampton burned. |
1669 |
Great Fire in Bampton. £10 distributed between victims. |
1672 |
Baptists meeting in Bampton. Cottage Meetings. Arthurshayne 1675-1725. |
1722-c1830 |
Workhouse in operation. |
1725 |
Baptist chapel built. |
1749-1760 |
Castle Grove built on sites of Tristrams House and The Croft. |
1758 |
First Turnpike Road into Bampton. Private by 3 Tiverton clothworkers. |
1766 |
John Wesley visited Bampton. |
1793 |
Horse-coaches operating to London. |
1807 |
Combehead rebuilt modernising 17th century mansion. |
1808 |
First clock face fitted. East side. Square. |
1810 |
Bampton sorting and franking its own mail. |
1816 |
Methodists in Bampton. |
1820 |
Wool Trade in Bampton virtually dead |
1821 |
National School opened financed by Mrs. Penton. |
1827 |
Batherm Bridge rebuilt. Single arch not five. |
1843 |
11 houses destroyed by fire 2 badly damaged High Street area. |
1851 |
5 houses destroyed by fire Churchyard. |
1858 |
1st Police Station purchased. |
1862 |
Methodist church replaced converted cottages. |
1867 |
Bampton Local Board born. |
1871 |
Water piped to taps in the town - M J C Phillips. |
1883 |
Telegrams/telegraph wire came to Bampton. |
1884-1963 |
Railway in Bampton. |
1894 |
Bampton Urban District Council born. |
1895 |
Methodist Sunday schoolroom added to church. |
1902 |
Barton and adjoining 17th century cottages demolished. New Buildings built on site. |
1905 |
First car owned in Bampton. |
1912 |
Charabanc operating in Bampton. |
1913 |
Last meeting of the Court Leet. |
1919 |
Two clock faces fitted. Round. |
1921 |
First telephone in Bampton. |
1924 |
Mains water piped into houses. “Wembley Terrace” built (Nissen Houses) in Frog Lane 1st Council Houses built by B.U.D.C. followed by Council Houses in S. Molton Road then Ford Road. |
1927 |
Electricity comes to Bampton. Church electrified. |
1934 |
Bampton Town Council born. |
1938 |
Present school opened. |
1940 |
American and British army medical units in Bampton. |
Late 1940’s |
School Close and Meadow View built. |
1959 |
Town Mill ceased production. Leat filled in 1960. |
1963 |
Last railway train in Bampton |
1966 |
Last lime produced in Bampton. |
1960’s-1970’s |
Barnhay and Market Close built. |
1970’s-1980’s |
Bourchier Close built. |
1985 |
Last animals sold at Fair. |
1990's-2007 |
Ashleigh Park built. |
1996 |
Last quarrying operation finished ending nearly 2 000 years of quarrying in Bampton. |
2004 |
Ponies re-introduced to Bampton Charter Fair |
2005 |
Newton Court built - 14 houses |
2006-2007 |
Old Scott's Quarry site re-developed, housing and light industrial units |
2007 |
The school site re-developed - new school and housing |
 |
The picture on the left is from an old postcard of Bampton - it shows a view down the South Molton Road before the houses in Market Close were built. You can see the old warehouse (which still exists) by the railway station and maybe on the right, smoke from engines in the quarries. |
Tom McManamon |