NONCONFORMITY.
Some vicars in the mid
16th century were associated with the recusant
Mores of Lower Haddon, (fn. 6) but no recusants were
noted in Bampton in the earlier 17th century,
only two or three in the late 17th century and
early 18th, when they included a shoemaker and
a labourer, and none in 1738. (fn. 7) Up to 8 papists,
mostly tradesmen, were noted throughout the
parish in the later 18th century, but there were
none by the early 19th. (fn. 8) An oratory at Ham
Court in the upper part of the former gatehouse,
dedicated to the Virgin and served by a priest
from Buckland (then Berks.), was established by
Bertram Arthur Talbot in 1856, shortly before
his death; it was closed the following year, and
the fittings were removed to Oxford and later to
Witney. (fn. 9)
In 1676 c. 45 undifferentiated nonconformists
were noted in the whole parish. (fn. 10) The Presbyterian Samuel Birch, intruded into the south
vicarage in 1658, instituted a lectureship, and
held conventicles attended by friends from Witney, Alvescot, and Aston as well as Bampton;
following his ejection he rented the south vicarage house for two years before being removed to
Shilton in 1664. (fn. 11) A few Presbyterians were
reported in the parish in the later 18th century,
but none later. (fn. 12) Quaker families fined regularly
in the later 17th century, and who attended a
meeting at Alvescot, included at least four and
probably more from Bampton and Weald.
Though some were 'very poor', others included
the relatively prosperous comb-maker John Hill,
and Edward Bettres or Bettrice, perhaps related
to the prominent Oxford Quaker Richard Bettrice. (fn. 13) Only two Quaker families were reported
in the parish in 1738, (fn. 14) and in 1761 the Quaker
wife of a Bampton blacksmith and possibly her
brother were converted to Anglicanism. There
were no Quakers by 1768. (fn. 15)
From the later 17th century members of four
or five Bampton families, chiefly prosperous
farmers and tradesmen, attended the Baptist
meeting at Cote, (fn. 16) ministers for which seem to
have lived in Bampton in the 1770s and c.
1798-1810. (fn. 17) A small stone-and-slated chapel
with c. 100 sittings, served from Cote, was built
south of High Street c. 1778. (fn. 18) Prominent members in the 19th century included the prosperous
Duttons and Holloways, (fn. 19) and although sung
services in Bampton church were claimed in
1814 to have virtually closed the meeting
house, (fn. 20) attendance in 1850-1 averaged 80. (fn. 21)
During the earlier 20th century numbers declined: by 1944 there was a Sunday school of
only 12, and in the early 1950s morning services
were discontinued. Membership rose slightly
thereafter, and in 1971 the congregation was c.
20, but by 1991 the chapel, still dependent on
Cote, was disused. (fn. 22) A Particular Baptist chapel
on Buckland road, opened in 1861 with c. 90
sittings, had no connection with Cote. (fn. 23) It remained a chapel in 1950, but by 1955 was a
private house. (fn. 24)
Three Methodist meeting houses were registered in Weald between 1826 and 1834, one of
them a former stable, the others houses near the
mill and on Cheyne Lane. In 1851 a cottage in
Weald 'formerly for poor persons', presumably
the former poor house on Weald Lane, was
returned as a Wesleyan chapel with 60 sittings
and had an average attendance of 20-25 for
morning and evening services, though only 3-5
inhabitants were claimed as members of the
Witney and Faringdon circuit. (fn. 25) Membership
remained low or non-existent, (fn. 26) and although a
mission room seating 100 was reported in 1891,
the same year Bampton's 'spiritual destitution'
prompted calls for establishment of a chapel.
The Earlys of Witney donated £200, and in 1892
a stone-and-slated chapel in Gothic style, seating
130, was built on the north side of Bridge
Street. (fn. 27) Membership doubled to over 30 by
1900 but fell to 16 by 1911, rising to 22 in the
1930s, (fn. 28) and the chapel remained open in 1992.
A Salvation Army meeting at Bampton in
1887, organized by Herbert Booth and c. 12
others who came from Witney on tricycles, was
attended by c. 300-400 people. (fn. 29) No later references have been found.