BAMPTON MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry record identifies Bampton Manor in Bampton, Devon, and this matches the historically documented Bampton manor associated with the medieval royal manor, Bampton Castle and the later manor-house site at Castle Grove. The evidence distinguishes the manor from the wider Bampton Hundred and from other manors within Bampton parish.
Representative point: 50.99275, -3.48543
Basis: documented_manor_site — Bampton Castle, at the eastern end of Castle Street, is the documented medieval manorial and baronial centre. Historic England records the castle site at National Grid Reference SS 95866 22558, and the Devon Historic Environment Record notes that the 1336 licence to crenellate a manor house at Bampton probably refers to this site.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern manor; exact applicable period not established
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: Available evidence establishes the location and manorial centre but does not provide a defensible polygon for the historical manorial landholding. Bampton Hundred was substantially wider than Bampton Manor, and the modern parish boundary cannot be substituted for the manor boundary. Accessible sources refer to Bampton's constituent manors and individual lands but do not document the complete perimeter of Bampton Manor itself.
Sources:
- The National Archives Discovery: Bampton Manor, record F276430: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F276430 — Registry record supplied for Bampton Manor, Devon; used as the primary identity reference.
- Historic England: Bampton Castle, scheduled monument 1003179: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1003179 — Identifies Bampton Castle at SS 95866 22558 and describes the site as a medieval fortified residence and centre of local or royal administration; notes the 1336 licence to crenellate the house, probably this castle.
- Devon Historic Environment Record: Bampton Castle, MDV1388: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=104&uid=MDV1388 — Records the castle site at the eastern end of Castle Street and links the 1336 licence to crenellate a manor house at Bampton with the castle; provides historical and archaeological site evidence.
- Devon Historic Environment Record: Castle Grove Manor House, MDV43034: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=104&uid=MDV43034 — Documents a later manor-house site at Castle Grove, SS 958 224, and records that a 14th-century licence to crenellate a manor house at Bampton may refer to the site.
- Bampton in Devon: Farms and Manors: https://www.bampton.org.uk/history-farms.html — Provides local historical context for Bampton's manors and early settlement names, supporting identification with Bampton, Devon while showing that several distinct manors existed within the parish.
- Bampton in Devon: Bampton in the Domesday Book: https://www.bampton.org.uk/history-domesday.html — Describes Bampton as a royal manor and distinguishes the wider Bampton Hundred from the separate manors within the present parish; used to avoid treating the hundred or parish as the manor boundary.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- No reliable complete historical boundary or manor-specific estate map was located in the accessible evidence.
- Do not use the modern civil or ecclesiastical parish boundary, Bampton Hundred boundary, or conservation-area boundary as the manor polygon.
- The representative point is centred on the documented medieval manorial site at Bampton Castle; Castle Grove is a later manor-house site nearby.