Bampton Church

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Church of St Mary

In the civil parish of Bampton.
In the historic county of Oxfordshire (Modern Authority of Oxfordshire, 1974 county of Oxfordshire).

Church was turned into 'castle' in 1141 (or 1142). The existing Grade 1 church is of C13 and later date. Fry writes 'A motte castle was raised by Queen Matilda' but there does not appear to be any evidence that the fortification of the church by Matilda involved a motte. This was an urgent constructed castle based on a church rather than a fortified church.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Nothing visible remains.

This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 253366)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP31260332

Modern Map from

Good for landscape form and features

Modern Map from

Good for general location

Air Photo from

1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 334540

Books

Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern) p63
Crossley, Alan, 1996, VCH Oxfordshire Vol13 p53-7
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p388
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p183
Pevsner, N. and Sherwood, J., 1974, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (London) p429-31
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
Potter, K.R. (ed), 1955, Gesta Stephani, the Deeds of Stephen (London: Nelson) p138-40

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations.

It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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*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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This record last updated on Friday, April 6, 2007

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