Bampton Castle was in the village of Bampton,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

(). Differing accounts of its origin exist. One states that in about 1142 AD during the reign of

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

built a

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

castle. According to other sources the castle was built in 1314–15, during the reign of

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

, by Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who obtained a licence from the king to "make a castle of his house at Bampton." The castle is mentioned in Skelton's, Antiquities of Oxfordshire, where he states that the castle was four-sided, with a tower at each corner and a fortified gatehouse on the eastern and western sides and corbelled out turrets for additional fortification. The last known account of the castle intact is from Woods manuscript, preserved at Ashmolean Museum, wherein he states that when he visited the castle on the September 7, 1664, nearly the entire western side was intact. The castle was demolished before 1789 but parts of its structure have been incorporated into a house, Ham Court, which is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. There used to be an RAF communications station nearby which was called

RAF Bampton Castle Royal Air Force Bampton Castle or RAF Bampton Castle is a former non-flying Royal Air Force station near Bampton Castle, Oxfordshire. The base was established by the Royal Corps of Signals in 1939 and handed over to the RAF in 1969. It was the ...

. The castle (as it was in the 1360s) is the primary setting for the fictional medieval mystery series written by Mel Starr, the first of which is "The Unquiet Bones, the first chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon." "Bampton Castle" was the name of the

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...

in the village. It was presumably so named in order to reduce confusion with telephone exchanges for other places in Britain called "Bampton" (which did not have castles). The exchange still exists, serving Bampton and neighbouring villages. Its location is not particularly close to the old castle.

Notes

{{Reflist Castles in Oxfordshire

See also

Notes