Bampton Devon Family History Guide

Status: Ancient Parish

Parish church: St. Michael

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1653
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1609

Nonconformists include: Baptist

Adjacent Parishes

Morebath
Oakford
Raddington
Tiverton
Huntsham
Clayhanger
Petton
Stoodleigh
Brushford
Upton
Hockworthy
Skilgate

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BAMPTON, a small town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a hundred, in Devon. The town stands in a vale, on the rivulet Batherne, about a mile above its influx to the Exe, 7 miles N of Tiverton r. station. It was an ciently called Bahantune, Bannton, Bathampton, and Bathrumpton; and it disputes with Bampton in Oxfordshire being the Beamdune of the Saxon chroniclers, where, in 614, the Britons were defeated with great slaughter by Cynegilsus, king of the West Saxons. It is supposed by some to occupy the site of a Roman station; and it had a castle, erected in 1336 by a member of the Cogan family, on a knoll at the east end of Castle street, now called the Mount, and crowned with firs The town consists of stone houses, irregularly scattered over a space of about ½ a mile; and has picturesque environs. It was formerly a borough, and sent two members to parliament; it was governed by a portreeve and other officers; and it is now a seat of petty sessions It has a post office under Tiverton, and two good inns; and it formerly had a manufacture of serges and pottery. A weekly market is held on Saturday; fairs, on Whit Tuesday and the last Thursday in Oct.; and great markets for cattle, sheep, and Exmoor ponies, on the last Wednesday in Nov. and the Wednesday before Lady-day. John de Bampton, a Carmelite friar, who first read lectures on "Aristotle" at Cambridge, and died in 1391, was a native. The parish includes also the hamlets of Petton and Shillingford. Acres, 7,785. Real property, £9,144. Pop., 1,971. Houses, 397. Limestone is worked, in about 15 quarries, for supplying the country as far as to South Molton. There is a chalybeate spring of some celebrity. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £130. Patron, Rev. E. Rendell. The church is decorated and perpendicular English; consists of nave, aisles, transept, and chancel, with western tower; and contains a fine carved oak screen, and mounments of the Bourchiers. A small chapel of ease is at Petton; and a small Baptist chapel in the town. Charities, £9. The subdistrict contains four other parishes; and is in the district of Tiverton. Acres, 17,718. Pop., 3,296. Houses, 631. The hundred contains seven parishes; and is noted principally for its quarries of limestone, and its fine breed of sheep. Acres, 28,757. Pop., 6,628. Houses, 1,360.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

Ancestry

Census & Voter Lists

Birth, Marriage & Death

Military

Immigration & Emigration

Directories & Member Lists

Court, Land, Wills & Financial

Pallot's Marriage Index, 1780-1837

FamilySearch - Free

FamilySearch - Birth Marriage & Death Census Migration & Naturalization Military Probate & Court

England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1538-1912

England, Devon Bishop's Transcripts, 1558-1887

England, Devon and Cornwall Marriages, 1660-1912

International Genealogical Index

FamilySearch Catalog - Online Records

Findmypast

1939 Register - Find out what your ancestors were doing on the eve of WW2 by searching the 1939 Register on Findmypast

Boyd's Marriage Indexes, 1538-1850

Devon Baptisms

Devon Burials

Devon Marriages 1507 to 2002 - Discover your ancestor's name, marriage date, spouse's name, and parish

Devon Banns 1629 to 1918 - Discover your ancestor's name, banns dates, intended spouse's name, and parish.

Devon Social & Institutional Records - Find paupers and vagrants, apprentices, peddlers and tradesmen. Discover if they got married, were vaccinated against smallpox or got Christmas presents while their father was fighting WW1. More than two centuries of social history to find rare details of the lives of ordinary people.

Devon Wills Index, 1163-1999 - includes people who were either born or died in Devon. The collection includes information about 295,609 wills, proved across 30 courts. Free

Devon, Land Tax and Valuation Records

Devon, Parish Registers

Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Apprentices 1570-1910 - Discover your ancestor’s address, parent’s names, master’s name and date of indenture.

Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Electoral Registers 1780-1973

Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Parish Chest Records 1556-1950 - Discover if your ancestor stayed in the workhouse, received parish relief or appeared in the churchwardens’ account books

Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Parish Registers

Devon, Plymouth Prison Records 1832-1919 - Was your ancestor a prisoner or prison officer in Devon in the nineteenth or early twentieth century?

Devon Newspapers available at Findmypast

Barnstaple Times and North Devon News

Bright's Intelligencer and Arrival List

Dartmouth & South Hams Chronicle

East & South Devon Advertiser

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette Daily Telegrams

Exeter Flying Post

Exmouth Journal

Express and Echo

Hartland and West Country Chronicle

North Devon Gazette

North Devon Journal

Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal and General Advertiser For Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset

Royal Devonport Telegraph, and Plymouth Chronicle

Sidmouth Journal and Directory

Tavistock Gazette

Tiverton Gazette (Mid-Devon Gazette)

Torbay Express and South Devon Echo

Torquay Directory and South Devon Journal

Torquay Times, and South Devon Advertiser

Totnes Weekly Times

Western Courier, West Of England Conservative, Plymouth and Devonport Advertiser

Western Daily Mercury

Western Morning News

Western Times

Devon Newspapers from British Newspaper Archive

Fully searchable historical newspapers for the Devon area available at British Newspaper Archive.