Feudal barony of Bampton

The feudal barony of Bampton was one of eight feudal baronies in Devonshire which existed during the mediaeval era, and had its caput at Bampton Castle within the manor of Bampton.

The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Baentone as one of the 27 Devon holdings of Walter of Douai, also known therein as Walscin. Walter was also feudal baron of Castle Cary in Somerset. At Bampton he established a castle, the motte of which survives today. The manor was a very large holding of 76 households, and previously to the Norman Conquest of England of 1066 had been held in demesne by King Edward the Confessor. As a manor in the royal demesne it had paid no tax. Walter had obtained it from William the Conqueror in exchange for the manors previously granted to him of Ermington and Blackawton. According to the Book of Fees the member manors of the barony of Bampton included: Duvale, Hele (possibly Hele, Clayhanger), Doddiscombe, Hockworthy, Havekareland (possibly Hawkerland, Colaton Raleigh) and Legh (Lea Barton, Hockworthy). Walter held the manor of Bampton in demesne, but nevertheless he had three tenants who held land somewhere within the manor, namely two men named Rademar, one of whom appears to have been a tenant of several of Walter's Somerset manors. One may possibly have been Rademar the Clerk, Walter's brother. The third tenant was Gerard, thought to have been Walter's steward and his tenant at Bratton Seymour in Somerset. The descent from Walter of Douai was as follows:

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