Bampton and Weald: Manors and castle

MANORS AND CASTLE

Until the late Anglo-Saxon period the royal manor of BAMPTON included all the ancient parish and much land outside it. (fn. 1) From the 10th century or earlier it was diminished by piecemeal grants, described below, (fn. 2) and in 1086 totalled 27½ hides; another ½ hide held by Ilbert de Lacy of the bishop of Bayeux's gift, a 'parcel' held by Walter son of Ponz, unspecified woodland held by Henry de Ferrars and formerly by a thegn, Bundi the forester, and 60 a. in Stockley (in Asthall) were said to be of the king's demesne. (fn. 3) A separate 3-hide estate held by Ilbert de Lacy of the bishop of Bayeux has not been traced later, and was presumably reabsorbed into the royal manor, perhaps c. 1100 when Ilbert's son Robert was expelled from the country. (fn. 4)

Bampton manor was held in 1156, apparently at pleasure, by Thierry (d. 1163), count of Flanders, from c. 1167 by Thierry's son Matthew, count of Boulogne, who forfeited his lands in 1173, and from c. 1175 by Matthew's brother Philip (d. 1191), count of Flanders, whose lands were held in custody from 1180 by William de Mandeville, earl of Essex. (fn. 5) On Philip's death the manor was briefly held by the sheriff of Oxfordshire towards ward of Oxford castle, and was granted in 1196 to John, count of Mortain, and in 1198 to Reginald de Dammartin, count of Boulogne, who had married Count Matthew's daughter. (fn. 6) Following Reginald's defection in 1203 it passed in custody to Geoffrey FitzPeter, but was restored in 1212. Though still regarded as part of Reginald's honor of Boulogne after his capture in 1214 at the battle of the Bouvines, it was granted at pleasure in 1217 to Fawkes de Breaute, and in 1227 for life to Philip Daubeny, who in 1235 granted it to Cirencester abbey for three years. (fn. 7) Philip died before 1238, when the land in Aston and Cote was granted to Imbert de Pugeys, and in 1248 Henry III granted the rest of the manor, in Bampton, Weald, Lew, and probably Lower Haddon, to his half-brother William de Valence, earl of Pembroke. (fn. 8)

On William's death in 1296 that reduced manor, later BAMPTON EARLS, KING'S BAMPTON, or BAMPTON TALBOT and assessed at 1 knight's fee, passed to his son Aymer (d. s.p. 1324). (fn. 9) In 1325 it was assigned with other of Aymer's lands to his niece and coheir Elizabeth Comyn, who before 1327 married Richard Talbot (d. 1356), later Lord Talbot, (fn. 10) and the manor remained with the Talbots, later earls of Shrewsbury. In 1355 Richard granted it in survivorship to John Carreu, John Laundels, and Thomas Talbot, clerk, on whose death in 1362 it reverted to Richard's son Gilbert (d. 1387), Lord Talbot; he leased it in 1382 to Sir Robert Tresilian for 7 years. (fn. 11)

Gilbert's son Richard, Lord Talbot, died seised in 1396. (fn. 12) His son Gilbert, a minor, had possession by 1405 and died in 1418, leaving an infant daughter, Ankaret. (fn. 13) Gilbert's relict Beatrice (d. 1447) received a third in dower and married Thomas Fettiplace, living at Bampton in the 1430s; (fn. 14) in 1419 she received custody of the other two thirds, but following Ankaret's death in 1421 she surrendered her dower in return for a tenancy. Gilbert's lands and titles passed to his brother John (d. 1453), created earl of Shrewsbury in 1442 and of Waterford in 1446, (fn. 15) to John's son John, killed at the battle of Northampton in 1460, and in 1464 to his son John, who died seised of a third in 1473, the rest being held by dowagers. (fn. 16)

John's son George, a minor in 1473, entered on the reunited manor probably in 1486. (fn. 17) On his death in 1538 it seems to have passed to his relict Elizabeth (d. 1567) as jointure, (fn. 18) and by 1569 to his grandson George Talbot (d. 1590); he settled it for life on his wife Elizabeth (d. 1608), who leased it. (fn. 19) By 1609 it had reverted to George's son Gilbert (d. 1616), from whom it passed with the earldom to his brother Edward. (fn. 20) Edward died in 1618, and following a series of disputes the manor was apparently divided between, among others, his sister Grace, relict of Henry Cavendish, his sister Mary's grandson Sir George Savile Bt. (d. s.p. 1626), and Earl Gilbert's daughter Elizabeth (d. s.p. 1651) and her husband Sir Henry Grey (d. 1639), earl of Kent; Henry and Elizabeth held courts as lords of Bampton in 1623. (fn. 21) Before 1640 Elizabeth acquired an interest in Grace's share, which she granted in reversion to Sir William Savile Bt. (d. 1644) of Thornhill (Yorks. W.R.), Sir George's brother and heir; (fn. 22) the Savile share, later two thirds, passed thereafter to Sir William's son Sir George (d. 1695), and before 1660 to Sir William's brother-in-law Sir William Coventry (d. 1686), (fn. 23) the other third having passed by 1654 to Francis Talbot (d. 1668), earl of Shrewsbury. (fn. 24) The manor was formally partitioned in 1660. (fn. 25)

The Talbots' third passed to Francis's son Charles (d. s.p. 1718), created duke of Shrewsbury in 1694, who settled his Oxfordshire lands on his cousin George Talbot (d. 1733), brother of the 13th earl. From him they passed to his son George (d. 1787), earl of Shrewsbury, and, with the earldom, to George's nephew Charles (d. 1827), Charles's nephew John (d. 1852), and John's cousin Bertram Arthur (d. 1856), who devised the family estates to Lord Edmund Bernard Howard (later Talbot), son of the duke of Norfolk. (fn. 26) In 1870 the estate, then c. 570 a. in Bampton, Weald, and Lew, was sold by trustees established under an Act of 1803; (fn. 27) Ham Court or Castle Farm (110 a.), including the former castle or manor house, was bought by Jesus College, Oxford, and the land in Lew (73 a.) by Christ Church, Oxford, the rest being divided among many purchasers. (fn. 28) Manorial rights were sold with Weald Manor. (fn. 29)

The Coventrys' two thirds, c. 980 a. in Bampton, Weald, Lew, and Clanfield, (fn. 30) were bequeathed by Sir William (d. 1686) to his nephew Henry Savile for life, with reversion to his cousin's son William Coventry who was lord by 1700. (fn. 31) William inherited the earldom of Coventry in 1719 and died in 1751, leaving the estate to his younger son John Bulkeley Coventry (d. 1801); it passed later to John's elder brother George (d. 1809), earl of Coventry, and to George's younger son, the Hon. John Coventry of Spring Hill (Worcs.) and later of Burgate House (Hants), who in 1824 sold it to Thomas Denton of Ashford Lodge (Mdx.) and later of Lew. (fn. 32) Denton died in 1851 and his relict Elizabeth in 1859, when the estate passed to trustees under Denton's will. (fn. 33) The land in Lew was sold to John Jones of Worcester before 1863, when he sold it to Christ Church, Oxford; in 1865 the rest of the estate was sold with the manorial rights also to Jones, who conveyed much of it to Jesus College, Oxford. (fn. 34) Jones died in 1875 leaving the residue of his estates in trust to be sold, and manorial rights evidently lapsed. (fn. 35)

CASTLE. The castle, later Ham Court, (fn. 36) was built on the town's western edge by Aymer de Valence c. 1315, in which year he received a licence to crenellate. It remained the manor house for Bampton Earls manor, and was divided between the two moieties from the 17th century until 1871. (fn. 37) A 13th-century window surviving in 1821 (fn. 38) suggests that the castle succeeded a house built by Aymer's father William c. 1256, when he received oaks and beams for his new hall, (fn. 39) and presumably there was an earlier royal manor house on or near the site: (fn. 40) wine was sent to Bampton as well as to the royal palace at Woodstock in 1210, and letters close and patent were dated from Bampton in 1236 and later. (fn. 41) The castle was partly ruined by 1664 and was mostly demolished before 1789; (fn. 42) surviving remains, all of c. 1315, comprise the lower half of the west gatehouse, abutted on the north by a rectangular lodging range of 2 storeys, and on the south by c. 10 m. of curtain wall. Before 1660 the gatehouse and lodging range were converted into a farmhouse, called Ham Court presumably from nearby Ham field, (fn. 43) and further alterations were made in the 18th and 19th centuries. It remained a farmhouse in 1994.

A drawing of the west front in 1664 (fn. 44) shows the gatehouse crenellated, with, over the gate passage, a tall, two-light transomed window, presumably with curvilinear tracery similar to that in the northern lodging range. The gatehouse formed the centrepiece of a symmetrical front of 4 bays, which extended north and south to round corner-towers with 3 tiers of arrowslits, and which had 2 intermediate projecting turrets supported on pillars 'partly ... within the wall, and partly standing without'. (fn. 45) The castle was said to be quadrangular, with round towers at each corner and similar gatehouses on the east and, possibly, north and south, implying a symmetrical plan grouped around a courtyard. A projection based on surviving remains, corroborated by earthworks to the west and north and by watercourses to the east and west, suggests a frontage of c. 110 m. (360 ft.), far larger than Aymer's castle at Goodrich (Herefs.), which may indicate that Bampton castle was planned as the caput for his barony. (fn. 46) Surviving ditches and a residual scarp to the west suggest a broad moat c. 30 m. wide. (fn. 47) dower awards, having evidently been set aside for domestic use: the only other parts of the castle granted were half a building (domus) called 'Longstable', with the enclosure between it and the gatehouse, the west garden, and an east garden which extended from the 'Knyhton' chamber eastwards to the mill pond and southwards to the road into Bampton. A fishpond in the west garden and a dovecot were also men-

The gatehouse, (fn. 48) projecting forward from the line of the curtain wall, retains pairs of angle buttresses on the external corners, with scars for similar buttresses on the east. Small embrasures for arrow-slits survive in the side walls at the west end of the gate passage, and at the east end are a pair of two-centred doorways, the northern leading to the ground floor of the lodging range, and the southern to a polygonal stair turret with tiny cusped-headed single-light windows, which rises to the level of the demolished upper chamber over the gate passage. Internally the gate passage comprises two square, rib-vaulted bays, each with a much-damaged foliage boss. The lodging block's upper storey retains a fireplace of high quality with moulded jambs and a corbelled stone hood, and in the east wall a two-light transomed window with curvilinear tracery. Its ground floor has no medieval features, and its north end has been truncated or rebuilt.

Despite its size, the castle seems to have been used only as an occasional residence. Aymer stayed at Bampton in 1307 and 1312 but is not known to have visited after 1315, (fn. 49) and Gilbert, Lord Talbot (d. 1387), leasing the manor to Sir Robert Tresilian in 1382, reserved the right to stay for a day and night if the lessee and his wife were absent. (fn. 50) In 1397 and 1420 the west gatehouse and rooms adjoining were included in tioned. (fn. 51) Other parts of the castle and its associated buildings may already have been derelict, since in 1422 the remaining two-thirds of the manor included a stone house with granges and other 'ruined' buildings. (fn. 52) Some bailiffs in the 15th century (fn. 53) may have been accommodated in the castle, and by the later 16th century the whole site, variously described as the castle or mansion house or as Ham Court, was let with the demesne to the lord's steward or to local gentry, some of whom probably sublet it. In the earlier 17th century the demesne and some agricultural buildings were sometimes let separately. (fn. 54)

The buildings were partitioned with the manor in 1660, by which time the west gatehouse and lodging block were the only habitable parts, and the gate passage had been blocked and divided into two storeys. (fn. 55) The earl of Shrewsbury's tenant received the first two floors, comprising a hall and parlour on the ground floor of the gatehouse with one long room above, and a chamber and service rooms in the lodging range. William Coventry's tenant received two upper storeys apparently over the former gate passage, and adjoining offices perhaps in a 'little cabin' north of the gatehouse, built against the curtain wall before 1664 and supported in part apparently by the lodging block. (fn. 56) The kitchen was evidently free standing. A 'great door' leading to the main stairs in 1660 was perhaps that on the gatehouse's east side near the south-east stair turret, which in the early 19th century had a small, projecting porch in classical style, with an arched opening, keystone, and cornice. (fn. 57) A great barn of 7 bays, mentioned in 1592 and also partitioned in 1660, (fn. 58) may have been the cruckframed barn surviving in 1821, presumably one of three long ranges north-east and south-east of the gatehouse which were aligned from west to east and lay within the putative medieval enclosure. (fn. 59) The north and south curtain walls were ruinous presumably by 1664, when it was unclear whether they included gatehouses, and surviving walls were demolished before 1789. (fn. 60)

Ham Court was let from the later 17th century to resident farmers. (fn. 61) The gatehouse's upper half was demolished perhaps before 1789, when the Coventrys' tenant was no longer accommodated there: by 1821 the gatehouse comprised only the lower two storeys with attics lit by dormer windows, the upper stage having been replaced by a steep-pitched roof of stone slate. (fn. 62) The Coventrys' tenant in 1789 occupied a laterdemolished line of buildings on the south, which in the mid 19th century included a south-facing, stone-built house of two storeys with a pitched gabled roof and attic dormers. (fn. 63) That was demolished probably after Jesus College, Oxford, acquired the whole farm, (fn. 64) and before 1876 a plain, square extension of two storeys, with stone-mullioned windows and a canted bay window on the south, was built onto the gatehouse's south side behind the curtain wall, whose south end was rebuilt. (fn. 65) Presumably about that time the north lodging range was refurbished, a battlemented parapet was added to the polygonal stair turret at the gatehouse's southeast corner, and windows in the blocked carriageway on the west were renewed. (fn. 66)

The manor of BAMPTON DEANERY or BAMPTON EXETER, otherwise the rectory manor, originated in King Eadwig's grant to Bampton minster between 955 and 957 of lands in Bampton, Aston, and Chimney. (fn. 67) Before 1066 the estate was granted probably by Edward the Confessor to his clerk Leofric (d. 1072), later bishop of Exeter; he gave it in 1069 to the newly founded Exeter cathedral chapter, and in 1086 it was assessed at 6 hides. (fn. 68) Three additional ploughlands, which paid no geld and were later held in demesne, were claimed in the 13th century to have been given by King Athelstan (d. 939), (fn. 69) but there is no evidence that the cathedral or its predecessors owned land in Bampton before Leofric's gift, and probably the whole manor derived from the former minster estate. (fn. 70) Except for a brief period during the Interregnum the chapter held the manor until 1862 when it was vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who sold or exchanged the Aston land and some of that in Bampton and Weald in 1866, and made later piecemeal sales. In 1990 the Church Commissioners retained 487 a. in Bampton and Weald. (fn. 71)

In 1086 Robert Losinga, bishop of Hereford, held the 6 hides and possibly all 9 at farm. (fn. 72) In the mid 12th century probably the whole estate, including tithes and other ecclesiastical revenues, was used to endow two prebends in Exeter cathedral, but before the 1180s there was some reorganization: a 'prebend' or farm mentioned from 1189 X 96 and confirmed to the chapter before 1220 seems to have been the later rectory manor, which included the glebe and house, some tithes, and half the offerings, and in the early 13th century the remaining ecclesiastical revenues were used to endow perpetual vicarages. (fn. 73) The manor was leased until 1382, when all the chapter's estates were taken in hand; (fn. 74) early lessees included the royal clerks Godfrey de Lucy and Richard Marsh, (fn. 75) but from the 1220s all were canons of Exeter. (fn. 76)

From the late 14th century the manor was let in parcels, resulting in the emergence of two, and later three, distinct estates. That later called the 'parsonage' or 'rectory', made up wholly or partly of former demesne and including the medieval manor house, was let from 1398-9 or earlier, (fn. 77) and was estimated at c. 200 a. in 1662. (fn. 78) Fifteenth-century lessees included bailiffs and vicars or their relatives, (fn. 79) but from the 16th century the estate was held by local gentry, notably the Mores of Lower Haddon from 1538, in the early 17th century the Peisleys, from c. 1624 the Dewes, and from 1778 to c. 1813 the Hawkinses, (fn. 80) all of whom seem to have sublet the land to local farmers. (fn. 81) A small part, later 70 a., was let separately from 1619. (fn. 82) In 1651 the estate was bought from the trustees for sale of Church lands by John Fielder of Borough Court in Odiham (Hants), but was recovered by the cathedral at the Restoration. (fn. 83)

The rest of the manor, in Bampton, Aston, Cote, Chimney, and Clanfield, (fn. 84) was let with the manorial rights in 1549 to John Southcott of Bovey Tracey and Thomas Deane of Dartington (Devon), who in 1552 assigned their right to Thomas More (d. 1561), lord of Haddon. It descended with Haddon until 1617 when John More sold the lease to William Hanks of Aston and Robert Veysey of Taynton. (fn. 85) Chimney was held by the Veyseys and their successors thereafter, (fn. 86) and the rest of the manor by the Hankses and their successors, manorial rights being shared until 1838 when it was agreed to lease them with the Bampton moiety only. (fn. 87)

William Hanks (d. 1627) was succeeded by his relict Jane (d. 1658), (fn. 88) who from 1641 held jointly with her son John (fn. 89) and in 1650 bought her moiety from the trustees for the sale of Church lands following the cathedral's deprivation. (fn. 90) John (d. 1669) succeeded her, and obtained a renewal of the chapter's lease after the Restoration. (fn. 91) The estate passed to his relict Dorothy (d. 1702), who married John Loder of Hinton Waldrist (Berks.), to Dorothy's sister Mary Croft (d. 1719), and perhaps before Mary's death to their nephew John Frederick (d. 1739) of Bampton and Gray's Inn; he held it from 1726 with his son John (d. 1775) of Wellingborough (Northants.), and left his lands in trust to his younger son Gascoigne. (fn. 92) The estate was settled on Gascoigne in 1754 following the discharge of legacies under earlier family settlements. (fn. 93) Gascoigne's sister Mary succeeded him in 1780 and died in 1785, leaving her lands to her sisters Elizabeth Snell (d. 1788) and Susannah Frederick (d. 1798); both left their share to their relative Edward Whitaker (d. 1825), (fn. 94) succeeded in 1828, following a dispute over his will, by his son Frederick (d. 1854), deputy-lieutenant of Oxfordshire. In 1866 Frederick's trustees acquired the freehold of much of the estate, including the post-medieval manor house and apparently manorial rights, from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by purchase and exchange; (fn. 95) the house was acquired later by the Bampton solicitor Robert Hockley Bullen (d. 1870), whose relict Emily (d. 1894) was called lady of the manor in 1891, (fn. 96) but manorial rights were not mentioned later.

William I's confirmation to Leofric and Exeter cathedral in 1069 included 'all the king's tithes', later interpreted by the chapter as those arising from ancient demesne within the former Bampton manor. (fn. 97) Rectorial tithes, owed in 1317 from lands in Brize Norton, Shilton, Yelford, Ducklington, Hardwick, Standlake, Black Bourton, and Clanfield as well as from Bampton, Weald, Lew, Haddon, Aston, and Shifford, (fn. 98) remained with the cathedral except during the Interregnum, when they were sold with the 'parsonage' estate. (fn. 99) In the 14th century most were farmed with the manor, and in the earlier 15th they were administered by the cathedral's bailiff; (fn. 100) from the late 15th and the 16th they were let in parcels, those from the 'parsonage' lands descending with that estate from 1476, and corn tithes, oblations, and a third of Bampton and Weald's hay tithe being held from 1753 with the Bampton moiety. (fn. 101) Under a private agreement in the 1560s Exeter College, Oxford, paid 26s. 8d. annually towards the marriage of poor women of Bampton and 13s. 4d. to the poor while holding corn and hay tithes. (fn. 102) Eynsham abbey retained most demesne tithes in Shifford until the early 15th century, when the demesne was farmed and became fully tithable, (fn. 103) and c. 1074 Robert d'Oilly gave two thirds of his demesne tithes of Bampton to the chapel of St. George in Oxford castle, from which they passed to Osney abbey and were exchanged with the vicars in 1433. (fn. 104) Moduses in the 17th century and later included 5d. (formerly 4d.) for calves, 1½d. for cows, 1d. for heifers, 2d. for lambs, and, by the 19th century, 2 eggs per hen on Good Friday, though some other tithes were still then collected in kind. (fn. 105) Tithes in Bampton, Weald, and Lew, excepting those from the 'parsonage' estate, were commuted at inclosure in 1821, when the chapter received in exchange 212½ a. and, in Haddon, a corn-rent charge of £85 to be reassessed every 14 years. (fn. 106) The chapter's tithes in Aston and Cote, Brighthampton, and Shifford were commuted between 1841 and 1849 for rent charges totalling £142 16s., which in 1862 were vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners with the rest of the estate. (fn. 107)

The medieval manor house, west of the church, was called the Deanery by the mid 19th century. (fn. 108) In the 14th it was kept in demesne by farmers of the manor presumably for bailiffs and as an occasional residence, (fn. 109) and was later let with the 'parsonage' estate. Right of accommodation was reserved for the chapter and their officers, and in the late 15th century the dean stayed there during a journey from London. (fn. 110) In the 17th century and the 18th it was occupied probably by some of the Dewes and Hawkinses, (fn. 111) and in the 19th became a farmhouse; (fn. 112) it was sold without its farmland in 1921. (fn. 113)

The surviving building, (fn. 114) of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, is two-storeyed with a basement and attics, and pitched, stoneslated roofs. The plan is irregular, with projecting north, east, and south-west wings of different dates. At basement level on the house's south side the east end of a later-truncated range of the late 11th or early 12th century retains two symmetrically-disposed windows with rounded heads and wide splays; the sill of a third window and one splay of another in the south wall also survive. An east range was built to the north-east in the later 12th century, with an overlapping abutment which blocked the northernmost of the three windows. Its thick basement walls each contain at least one window with wide splays and ashlar quoins, and three sets of rubble voussoirs on its external north wall are evidently the relieving arches for more windows. The range's west wall was probably rebuilt c. 1200, and includes remains of a lancet window high in the gable end and of a pointed doorway leading into the basement. The north wing, much altered and of uncertain date, retains opposing doorways which may be evidence for a late medieval plan.

In the late 16th or early 17th century, perhaps after the lease passed from the the non-resident Mores to Bartholomew Peisley and the Dewe family, (fn. 115) the surviving portions of the house were extensively remodelled. The north wing may have been rebuilt with a large internal chimney stack, the south and east walls of the east wing were rebuilt, and a large stack was added to the south range, whose upper part was rebuilt and and whose west end may have been demolished. Later in the 17th century a staircase with corkscrew balusters was built into the central area. Building work was noted in 1814, (fn. 116) but most 19th-century alterations appear to have been destructive as the house was reduced in size, notably through truncation of the house's west end and north wing, (fn. 117) to whose north gable diagonal buttresses were added in imitation of those on the east wing. A two-storeyed extension in Tudor style was added in the north-west angle in the mid 19th century, and in the earlier 20th the porch was rebuilt and the south range extended, shortly before dormers were added to the roof. (fn. 118) A major restoration and renovation was carried out in 1990 and 1991.

A thatched 'old hall' mentioned in 1317 may have been free-standing and linked to the other buildings by a covered way or claustrum. (fn. 119) It was derelict by 1381 when a new hall with a chamber at its west end was built by the chapter's farmer. A stone-slated first-floor chapel with glazed windows, mentioned in the 14th and 15th centuries, was presumably in one of the surviving medieval ranges, both aligned on the church; (fn. 120) the abutting range apparently contained two chambers in 1317, both with chimneys and garderobes, and one in 1381. Service rooms in 1317 included a buttery, larder, kitchen, bakehouse, and dairy, all stone-slated, and a thatched malt-drying house. A substantial stone-built gatehouse, evidently on the site of the modern gate near Cobb House, was ruinous in 1317, when it had a chamber over, and a granary or bailiff's chamber formed one side; the chamber was removed c. 1389 and the gate was reroofed. Buildings flanking the gateway in the late 18th century and early 19th but demolished before 1876 were perhaps its remains. A possible inner gateway immediately north of the house, shown on a map of 1789 when it formed part of a north range running westwards from the north wing, may have been an earlier entrance before the curtilage was extended northwards, perhaps in the 13th century. Both it and the north range were demolished before 1876. (fn. 121)

Agricultural buildings in 1317 included a thatched tithe barn 129 ft. long, ordered to be demolished in 1389, and a 156-ft. demesne barn adjoining a 136-ft. byre. All lay presumably north of the house as in 1789, within a 4-a. court and barnyard. An 8-a. garden mentioned in 1317 would have fitted into the later curtilage south and south-east of the house, including Horse close and coppice which were later confused with the lessee's freehold. (fn. 122) Fishpools in the garden in 1317 were probably in the canalized streams of Shill brook, and a dovecot in the garden was mentioned in leases until 1538. (fn. 123) A formal garden laid out south of the house before 1789 was obliterated during the 19th century. (fn. 124)

The manor house for the Bampton and Aston moiety from the early 17th century was that west of Broad Street, called Bampton Manor House by the mid 19th century. (fn. 125) In origin the farmhouse for an amalgamation of 3 copyhold yardlands, (fn. 126) it was adopted as the manor house presumably during the 1620s when William Hanks, formerly of Aston, settled in Bampton; (fn. 127) thereafter it was occupied successively by the Hankses, Fredericks, and Whitakers, (fn. 128) and was substantially rebuilt probably by Edward Whitaker c. 1806. In 1669 it was two-storeyed and included a hall, a study, great and little parlours, and a kitchen, brewhouse, and buttery; in 1767 it comprised a main north-south range, presumably the hall, with symmetrical cross wings projecting eastwards. (fn. 129) Early in the 19th century, presumably after Edward Whitaker complained that the house would have to be 'nearly all taken down and rebuilt', (fn. 130) the main range was replaced by a large 3-storeyed block with a hipped, Stonesfield-slated roof; the remodelled 17thcentury cross wings were retained at the north and south ends of the east front, forming a symmetrical composition. Both wings retain 18th-century panelling, of which that in the southern rooms is of soon after 1700, and there are some re-used 17th-century fittings. The line of the southern cross wing was continued westwards to provide a south entrance front perhaps also c. 1806: the central doorway stands at the base of a 3-storeyed stair tower with a gabled roof, which in 1848 had an arcaded entrance porch with a tall round-headed window above. (fn. 131) The porch was replaced by one in Gothic style and the tall window by an oriel in the later 19th century. A 2-storeyed south-west wing with a gabled roof, probably also 19th-century, was replaced c. 1904-5 by a single-storeyed wing with a parapet, creating an approximately symmetrical south front. (fn. 132) The house was refurbished in the early 1980s and the stucco was renewed.

A stable block and carriage house on the north were built by Gascoigne Frederick in 1755, (fn. 133) and in 1767 there was a small formal garden immediately west and south of the house, the outline of which remained visible in 1876. (fn. 134) A carriageway leading southwards from the house, lined in 1841 with a 'beautiful avenue of elm trees', (fn. 135) was replaced by one to Broad Street in the 20th century, and in the later 20th century the gardens were relandscaped and a small pond created. (fn. 136)

Four hides in Bampton, Weald, and Aston, later BAMPTON DOILLY manor, were held in chief in 1086 by. Robert d'Oilly (d. c. 1093) and of him by Roger, possibly a relative. (fn. 137) The overlordship, which descended with the barony of Hook Norton, was recorded on the death of Hugh de Plessis in 1363 but had apparently lapsed by 1428, (fn. 138) and in the 16th century the manor was held as of Bampton manor, to which quitrents of probably 6s. were owed. (fn. 139)

The undertenancy, assessed with Kencot at 2 knights' fees, (fn. 140) passed before 1142 to Roger d'Oilly and before c. 1150 to his son Roger, who by separate gifts granted ½ hide and one yardland in Aston to Eynsham abbey. (fn. 141) The manor was held thereafter by a succession of d'Oillys, all called Roger, until the early 14th century, a small portion being held in dower in 1222. (fn. 142) In 1268 Roger son of Roger d'Oilly granted the reversion to Roger son of John d'Oilly, but on the former's death c. 1309 the manor was divided between his two coheirs and their husbands Richard of Goldsborough (Yorks. W.R.) and John de Meaux, whose rights were upheld against Roger son of John's heir. (fn. 143)

The Goldsborough moiety, apparently held in dower in 1395, (fn. 144) descended through the male line to Richard Goldsborough (d. 1504), and to his son Richard (d. 1508) and grandson Thomas (d. 1566). (fn. 145) Some lands and rents were held by relatives in the 14th century, and in the earlier 15th the manor was apparently leased. (fn. 146) Thomas settled the moiety in 1564 on his son Richard, (fn. 147) who in 1570 sold it to Charles Matthew of Oxford; (fn. 148) from him most of it passed presumably by sale to Thomas Reed in 1571, and in 1576 to Thomas Yate, who in 1588 conveyed it to Leonard Yate of Witney. (fn. 149) An agreement between Leonard Yate and Michael Jobson in 1596 to divide the manorial profits (fn. 150) referred apparently to a subdivision of the moiety, since in 1624 Jobson's relict Margaret vested her right in Richard Blower, who held the moiety in common until 1658. (fn. 151) The other share was held probably in 1609 and certainly in 1620 by presumably another Thomas Yate, who with his wife conveyed it in 1635, evidently much diminished, to John Palmer of Bampton. (fn. 152) On Palmer's death in 1650 it was divided between his nieces Elizabeth, Katherine, and Ruth, who with their husbands John Young, William Nabbs, and Thomas Tremaine partitioned it in 1660. (fn. 153)

The Meaux moiety passed on John de Meaux's death after 1331 (fn. 154) to his son Thomas (d. 1361), whose grandson and heir Thomas, a minor, entered on it in 1370, and in 1395 it was held by that Thomas's relict Alice. (fn. 155) In 1428 it was held by John Anthony, perhaps a lessee, (fn. 156) but before 1439 it passed apparently through marriage to the Spanby family of Spanby (Lines.), descending to Arthur Spanby (d. 1509), and to Arthur's sister Joan and her husband James Saunders or Standish (d. 1557). (fn. 157) They seem to have conveyed it c. 1510 to the Haydock or Haddock family, which in the mid 16th century let all or part of it. (fn. 158) In 1595 William Haydock conveyed it to his relative Thomas Smallpage (d. 1597) of Gray's Inn, (fn. 159) who left it to his nephew Percival Smallpage (d. 1616); in 1617 Percival's sister Anne Smallpage and others sold it under earlier agreements to Thomas Ward and Thomas Willear of Bampton and possibly other tenants, (fn. 160) who sold much of it piecemeal. (fn. 161)

The later descent of both moieties is obscure, but by 1764 the manor, then a single farm of c. 230 a. centred on the manor house and no longer described as a moiety, was owned by Richard Lissett (d. 1764), vicar of Oundle (Northants.) and a native of Bampton. It passed to Richard's nephew William Lissett (d. 1791) and niece Jane Lissett (d. 1799), whose trustee Edward Whitaker, of Bampton Deanery manor, evidently bought it under the terms of her will. (fn. 162) Though described as a manor in 1800 and occasionally thereafter, the farm seems by 1821 to have been absorbed into Whitaker's other freeholds, with which it was sold after his death, and by the mid 19th century it had been broken up. (fn. 163)

The d'Oillys had a manor house in Bampton possibly in 1086, when land was held in demesne, and certainly by 1247, when their 'court' included a house, barn, and fishpools. (fn. 164) Following the manor's partition either the curtilage was divided or another house was built: John de Meaux had a house in Bampton in 1349 and 1353, and in 1653 Thomas Willear's sale of part of his moiety included half of Meux close with a dovehouse and fishponds, (fn. 165) while the non-resident Goldsboroughs leased the 'site' of their manor probably in 1404 and in 1564. (fn. 166) The manor house in the 18th century and early 19th stood south of the market place on the site of modern Folly House, (fn. 167) and though it is uncertain to which moiety it belonged that may have been the site of the d'Oillys' medieval house: the surviving building includes a thick, possibly medieval wall, and excavation in 1989 revealed a concentration of medieval features, including 12th- and 13th-century pottery and, south of the house, traces of a possibly medieval wall running east-west along the edge of the gravel terrace, perhaps marking a southern boundary. (fn. 168) The curtilage's other boundaries are preserved perhaps in the lines of Cheyne Lane and of a former watercourse on the west, and of the southern edge of the market place on the north, suggesting a large inclosure c. 30 metres square. (fn. 169) Both moieties apparently included a dovecot, one of them perhaps the large, 17th-century stone dovecot west of Folly House, separately owned in the 19th century. (fn. 170)

Buildings in the early 19th century included a 'handsome, substantial and spacious mansion house' with barns, stables, a dovehouse, and oxpens. (fn. 171) Though Jane Lissett may have lived there initially, by 1794 she occupied a house by the market place, and the manor house was let with the farm. (fn. 172) In 1861 the farmhouse was said to have been 'long since' converted into a pigeon house and later pulled down, and the site, then known as Kerwood's Yard, was occupied chiefly by agricultural labourers, some accommodated perhaps in converted farm buildings. (fn. 173) Most buildings were demolished in the late 19th century or early 20th, leaving a small, chiefly 18th-century stone-built range of two storeys, later gutted for use as a garage and outbuildings. The existing house, of timber and weatherboard and adjoining that range on the south, was built in the later 20th century. A malthouse to the north-west, built before 1876 and perhaps converted into a rifle range before 1909, was demolished before 1921. (fn. 174)