Bampton Church (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Church of St Mary; Bentonensi

In the civil parish of Bampton.
In the historic county of Oxfordshire.
Modern Authority of Oxfordshire.
1974 county of Oxfordshire.
Medieval County of Oxfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP31260332
Latitude 51.72775° Longitude -1.54867°

Bampton Church has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Mainly 12th century parish church with evidence that it was formerly an Anglo Saxon minster. Some 10th and 11th century fabric survives in the base of the central tower. The church was remodelled in the late 12th century on a cruciform plan and various alterations were made through the 13th century, including the heightening of the tower and the addition of the spire. The church was remodelled again between about 1290 and 1320, with the nave being totally rebuilt. Further work was undertaken through the 14th and 15th centuries. The church was considerably altered as part of major reconstruction work carried out between 1867-70 and the top of the spire was rebuilt following a lightning strike in 1872. A chapel, in use as a store by the 19th century, was converted into a vestry in 1894. A documentary source indicates that the church was used as a castle between 1141 and 1142, but it is not known what form this fortification took. (PastScape)

Major discovery was number of ditch cuts outside the present churchyard, intepreted as Medieval recuts on or near line of original Saxon Minster ditch. This appears to have been maintained into C13. (Oxfordshire HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1053559
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 334540.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4175.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 63
  Crossley, Alan, and Currie, C.R.J. (eds), 1996, VCH Oxfordshire Vol. 13 p. 53-7 online transcription
  Coulson, Charles, 1994, 'The Castles of the Anarchy' in King, Edmund (ed.), The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign (Oxford University Press) p. 71
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 388
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 183
  Pevsner, N. and Sherwood, J., 1974, Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (London) p. 429-31
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 100
Periodical Articles
- Speight, Sarah, 1999-2000, 'Churches as Castles: the misuse of religious buildings during the reign of Stephen' Castle Studies Group Newsletter No. 13 p. 11-12 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Sewell, R.C. (ed), 1846, Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum p. 88 online copy (The newer edition and translation by Potter, K.R. (ed), 1976 (2edn), Gesta Stephani (Oxford University Press) should be consulted for serious study. See also Speight, S., 2000, 'Castle Warfare in the Gesta Stephani' , Château Gaillard Vol. 19 see online transcription)

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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