Bampton History

Bampton Parish is not divided into townships, but contains a number of small hamlets, and 614 inhabitants, with part of the chapelry of Mardale, which is mostly in Shap parish. It is nearly 5 miles in length, and 3 in breadth, and is intersected by the Lowther and the stream flowing from Hawes-Water, which beautiful lake lies at the south western extremity of the parish, in the Earl of Lonsdale's manor of Thornthwaite. The soil in the vales is very fertile, but lofty and rugged mountains near their heads on every side of the parish, which is bounded by those of Lowther, Shap, Morland, Barton and Askham.

Bampton and Bampton Grange, are two neighbouring villages, situated on the opposite banks of the Lowther, where that river is augmented by the Hawes-Water Beck, 4 miles north-west of Shap ; the Church, Vicarage, and Grammar School, being on the east side of the vale at Bampton-Grange. The Manor is divided into two division, designated from their ancient owners Bampton Patrick and Bampton Cunedale, the former having its name from Patricia de Culwen, an ancestor of the Curwens of Workington, and the latter from the Cundale family, from whom is passed to the Clyburnes, who sold it to an ancestor of the present owner, the Earl of Lonsdale. E.W. Hasell, Esq., is lord of Bampton Patrick, which was purchased of Francis Warwick Esq, in 1772. The Church is a neat fabric, which was built on the site of the old one in 1726, and dedicated to St. Peter. The vicarage-house was rebuilt about the same time, at the expense of Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, a native of this parish. The church was appropriated to Shap Abbey about the year 1170, but ever since the dissolution, the vicarage has been in the patronage of the Crown, and is now enjoyed by the Rev. Thomas Pearson. It is valued in the king's books at £7 5s., but in 1750 it was certified at £33, having been augmented with lands at RosselBridge near Kendal, purchased with £200 given by Thomas Gibson, M.D.

Bampton parish enjoys the benefit of three public libraries, and three endowed schools, with several benefactions for the poor. The libraries consist of about 800 volumes, and were established in 1710, 1750 and 1757. Bampton Grammar school ranks as high as any in the county, and possesses a yearly revenue amounting to upwards of £80. It was founded in 1623 by Thomas Sutton, D.D. who endowed it with £500, afterwards laid out in a purchase of tithes in the neighbourhood. In 1816, John Noble Esq., of London endowed it with £500 in a 3 per cent stock. Wm. Walker Esq., in 1657, bequeathed a yearly rent charge of fiftenn guineas for the purpose of providing the scholars with books &c. ; and Wm. Stephenson, rector of Laxton, in Nottinghamshire, left a legacy of £150 to the church and school. Of the twelve governors, six are appointed trustees and the master is required to be "in holy orders and a licensed preacher ". The present learned and highly respected Rev. John Bowstead has been upwards of fifty-two years master of this school, which he has raised to great celebrity.

Bombey, a hamlet nearly ½ a mile south of Bampton

Butterwick, a village 1 mile north by west of Bampton

Knipe, High and Low, two hamlets, 1mile north by east of Bampton

Measand, a hamlet in Mardale chapelry, on the west side of Hawes-Water lake, and near the Fordingdale beck, a stream abounding in picturesque waterfalls, 4 miles south-west of Bampton. The free school here was founded in 1713 by Richard Wright and Richard Lacy, who endowed it with an estate, now worth upwards of £40. a year : the Rev. John Greehow is the present master.

Riggendale, a deep romantice glen, stretching from High Street mountain to the bridge between Chapel Hill and Mardale Green being partly in the parish of Shap, from which it is distant 8 miles.

Roughill, a hamlet 1½ miles WNW of Bampton. The school here (taught by Miss Noble) was endowed in 1662 by Edmund Noble, with £40, since which it has received several other gifts, making the total amount of its annul revenue about £9.

Thornthwaite was anciently a large forest, and is now a manor belonging to the Earl of Lonsdale, and situated in the two parishes of Bampton & Shap, and in the chapelries of Mardale & Swindale. The hall is situated at the foot of Hawes-Water Lake and has a road extended from it to Bampton, called Walmgate. Hawes-Water is wholly within this manor.