Bampton
Archive
Bampton Town, Its Castle and the Earls of Pembroke
Revised edition
A Bampton Archive Publication
www.bamptonarchive.org
Preface This booklet is not intended to be a guide to Bampton but more a general description to set the scene for the Castle, the Earl of Pembroke who built it, and what became of it. AP, Bampton October, 2010. Revised 2015
Area C
approx. area of Roman finds
The Castle Area D
Map reproduced by kind permission of Janet Westman
Area B
The Beam & St. Andrews Chapel
Area A
approx. area of Iron Age settlement
Bampton Bampton, Bampton Town, Bampton-in-the-Bush - just some of the many names that Bampton has been recorded as being through the ages. In Anglo-Saxon times it may have been called Beamtune , and it is here that Cynegils, King of the West Saxons, fought, and killed 2,046 “Welshmen�. Bampton is one of the oldest continually occupied sites in England with Iron Age, Roman and Medieval remains to be found in the area, much of it has not been investigated but traces come to light every now and then. One of the most interesting finds has been a Roman coin of which there is only one other example in Europe. The earliest occupied sites are at the east end of the village. In the area of New Road/Mount Owen Road there were traces of an Iron Age Village, c600BC (Area A on the map of Bampton). Unfortunately a lot of building work has been done in the area and no archaeological survey was carried out before- hand. There is a an aerial photograph of the area (Pic.1) prior to the building work, and if you look carefully you can make out the outlines of the Iron Age settlement in the top of the picture. Mount Owen Road is just visible on the extreme right.
Pic. 1
Later, the Romans arrived and there are traces of occupation in the Weald area (Area C on the map). A Roman altar (Pic. 2) has been found and a quantity of Roman coinage, one coin of which is very rare. When the Romans left (c450) the area was fought over by the British (Welsh) and the Anglo-Saxons with a battle in 614 when the King of the West Saxons is said to have killed 2,046 Welshmen! Back in the east end of Bampton there are the remains of an ancient religious site, referred to as ‘the Beam'. What form the ‘Beam’ took Pic. 2
is not known but some think it may have been a cross. Beam is an Anglo-Saxon word and the site (Area B on the Map) has many religious connections. It is best remembered as the site of St. Andrew’s Chapel and some of that Chapel can be found in the Cottage in Pic.1, known as Beam Cottage. This cottage is now buried in a housing estate but the building still exists as a modern house. Burials in the area are dated to the 11th century. St. Andrew’s Chapel figured prominently in Mel Starr’s book “A Corpse at St. Andrew’s Chapel”, the second of the books he has written about medieval Bampton. In the 12th century Queen Matilda fortified the Church during her running battle with King Stephen, and in 1387 Robert de Vere, and Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby fought a battle in the area, culminating in the Battle of Radcot Bridge. Much of medieval Bampton still remains, although hidden within more modern structures, many of which have been constructed with stone from Bampton Castle (Area D) If you look carefully it is possible to see re-used medieval stonework in the walls of domestic houses! There are one or two thatched buildings still around, in Bridge Street and Church Street, amongst others.
Thatched cottage, Church Street.
Thatchers at work in the High Street.
Earls of
Pembroke
William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke , born Guillaume de Lusignan or de Valence, was a French nobleman and Knight. He was the fourth son of Isabella of AngoulĂŞme, widow of King John of England, and was a half-brother to Henry III of England, and uncle to Edward I. William was born at Valence, a city in southeast France on the Rhone River south of Lyons. In 1246 the French conquest of Poitou created great difficulties for William's family, and so he and his brothers, Guy de Lusignan and Aymer, accepted Henry III's invitation to come to England in 1247. The king found important positions for all of them; William was soon married to a great heiress, Joan de Munchensi, Countess of Pembroke. Their main residences were Pembroke Castle, South Wales, and Goodrich Castle, Herefordhshire. In 1249 Henry III gave the great royal manor of Bampton to William and here he established a Manor House. There is correspondence from here to Edward I in 1284, and there appear to have been royal wine deliveries to Bampton at the same time as deliveries to the Royal Palace at Woodstock.
William died at his manor in Kent on 16 May 1296 and was buried in St Edmund’s chapel in Westminster Abbey. His tomb is the only existing example in England of Limoges champlevé enamelwork. He was succeeded by his son, Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who inherited all the French lands, property in Pembrokeshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and East Anglia, together with properties in Ireland. He campaigned with Edward I in France and with his French connections was a valuable diplomat in France for England. In England, Aymer was commander of the English army that won an important victory over Robert the Bruce in 1306. Later, in the reign of Edward II he became involved in the Piers Gaveston controversy. Gaveston’s exclusive access to the king (it is supposed that they were lovers) provoked strong opposition amongst the nobility, and in 1308 the king was forced to send Gaveston into exile . Edward managed to negotiate a deal with the opposition, however, and Gaveston returned the next year. Upon his return his behaviour became even more provocative, and by the Ordinances of 1311(a series of regulations imposed upon King Edward II by the peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England to restrict the power of the king) it was decided that Gaveston should be exiled again, to suffer outlawry if he returned. When he did return in 1312, he was hunted down by a group of magnates led by Thomas
of Lancaster and Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and had to surrender. The terms of the surrender were that Aymer de Valence, and a party of Barons would take Gaveston to York, where the Barons would negotiate with the King. They swore an oath to guarantee Gaveston’s safety. After an initial meeting with the king in York, Gaveston was left in the custody of Aymer, who escorted him south. On 9 June, Aymer left Gaveston at the rectory at Deddington , while he himself left to visit his wife at Bampton Castle. When the Earl of Warwick found out Gaveston's whereabouts, he immediately set out from his castle at Warwick to capture him. The next morning he appeared at the rectory, where he took Gaveston captive and brought him back to the castle. Aymer, whose honour had been affronted by the seizing of a prisoner in his custody, appealed for justice to Gaveston's brother-in-law, the Earl of Gloucester, but to no avail. At Warwick, Gaveston was condemned to death before an assembly of Barons, including the Earls of Warwick, Lancaster, Hereford and Arundel. On 19 June, he was taken out on the road towards Kenilworth as far as Blacklow Hill, which was on the Earl of Lancaster's land. Here, two Welshmen ran him through with a sword, before beheading him.
Aymer was appointed King’s Lieutenant in Scotland and fought with the King at Bannockburn where the Scots defeated the English. Aymer died suddenly in France on 23 June 1324 while on an embassy to Charles IV. His body was returned to Westminster Abbey and was buried on the north side of the High Altar where his widow erected a magnificent tomb for him. Aymer’s tomb effigy wears mail and his surcoat is painted with the variant of the Lusignan arms which his father had assumed. His feet rest on a lion. The shield he carried has disappeared. The sixteen small figures around the tomb base represent members of his family. On the richly carved tomb canopy Aymer is represented fully armed and galloping on his horse.
At his death the estates passed to his niece, Elizabeth Coyn, who married Richard, 2nd Lord Talbot in 1327, and so the castle and its land passed into the Talbot family, Earls of Shrewsbury. In 1413 Gilbert Talbot appointed Thomas Fettiplace as Steward of Bampton Castle, a position in which he excelled. The Talbots stayed at the Castle while attending the King at Oxford and Woodstock. Obviously Thomas got to know them well as when Lord Talbot was killed in the siege of Rouen in 1418 he married his widow, Beatrice! By the 16th century the whole site was let to the local people and by the 17th century it was being used for agricultural purposes. By this time the castle was derelict and much of the stone had disappeared and can be found in many of the present day buildings in Bampton and Weald.
Bampton Castle William de Valence built a Manor House in Bampton in 1249; documents exist confirming that this was occupied by him from time to time, despite his principal residences being Pembroke Castle and Goodrich Castle (see page 27). When he died in 1296 his son Aymer inherited and in 1315 he received permission to crenellate and proceeded to build his castle. Quite why he built one in Bampton is not known. It was ‘on the way’ from Pembroke and Goodrich to some of his other properties around the country, but that is just guesswork, maybe he just liked building castles!
The West front in 1664.
The Castle was one of the largest in England at the time and certainly exceeded both Pembroke and Goodrich. From the remaining sketches (Pic. 3) it is calculated that it had a frontage of 110m (360ft) with a moat some 30m wide. It could be that he intended Bampton to be the centre of his barony. The Castle was quadrangular with round turrets at each corner with gatehouses on all four sides. It was strong and internally spacious with accommodation for Aymer’s substantial retinue. Nothing remains of the Manor House (although part of the Castle is the right period to have been the original Manor built by his father) and very little of the Castle, although no excavation work has been done on the site of either building.
Much of the castle has been demolished and what was left was converted into a farm house. It has recently been sold and has become a home again: but there are still some interesting features remaining and the present owners are excavating the moat area.
The farmhouse in the 20th century with the Gatehouse and part of the walls visible.
The West Gatehouse, now a farmhouse, and part of the crenellated walls.
The blocked-up arch of the Gatehouse.
A room in the Gatehouse over the portcullis.
Ceiling boss in present bathroom.
Ceiling in one of the bedrooms - it still has flecks of the original blue paint.
Inside one of the turrets. A Victorian addition put above the original stone, spiral staircase.
Arrow slit inside a cupboard!
An arrow slit in the west wall.
A huge pillar in the present dining room. The picture above part of the support arch of the gateway on the east side, and the bottom picture is part of the support arch on the west side which also houses a portcullis.
Slot above gate for pouring things on unwelcome visitors!
West face and part of curtain wall.
West facing bedroom over the Portcullis.
Blocked up fireplace.
Arrow slit on the turret stairs.
A window in the east wall.
A blocked up arrow slit.
Left side is Victorian, right side is original with a Victorian turret added on top of it.
This casket is testament to the importance of heraldry in society at this time. It bears the arms of the Valence family who were Earls of Pembroke, as well as arms of the Royal House of England. The casket belonged either to Aymer de Valence who died in 1324, or to his father William. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Pembroke Castle, principal home of the Earls of Pembroke.
Goodrich Castle another Pembroke castle.
Acknowledgements ▪ Dr John Blair, The Queen’s College, Oxford ▪ A History of the County of Oxford ▪ Talbot Ancestry web site ▪ Berkshire History ▪ The National Archive ▪ Great Medieval Houses of England by Anthony Emery ▪ Additional photographs of current buildings by Janet Rouse
BCA-12/C June 2015