
Bathampton () is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
east of
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, England on the south bank of the
River Avon. The parish has a population of 1,603.
The
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of Navigability, navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than sol ...
passes through the village and a
toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...
links Bathampton to
Batheaston on the north bank of the canal.
History
Bathampton Camp is a
univallate Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
situated approximately east from the village. The site was excavated in 1904–05 and in 1952–54. Results found human and animal remains,
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
and flint flakes.
The parish was part of the
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101.
In mathematics
100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
of
Hampton.
The village used to be served by
Bathampton railway station, but it was closed following the destructive
Beeching cuts
The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...
.
Plasticine
Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...
was manufactured in the village between 1900 and 1983 by a company founded by
William Harbutt, who also lived in Bathampton.
Governance
The
parish council has responsibility for some local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and
neighbourhood watch
A neighborhood watch or neighbourhood watch (see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also called a crime watch or neighbourhood crime watch, is an organized group of civilians devoted to crime a ...
groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the
village hall
A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...
or
community centre
A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...
,
playing field
Play is a range of Motivation#Intrinsic and extrinsic, intrinsically motivated activities done for recreation. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other high ...
s and
playground
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...
s, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council.
The parish falls within the
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
of
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. ...
which was created in 1996, as established by the
Local Government Act 1992
The Local Government Commission for England was the body responsible for reviewing the structure of local government in England from 1992 to 2002. It was established under the Local Government Act 1992, replacing the Local Government Boundary ...
. It provides a single tier of
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state.
Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
with responsibility for almost all local government functions within its area including
local planning and
building control, local roads,
council housing
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...
,
environmental health
Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural environment, natural and built environment affecting human health. To effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements for a hea ...
,
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
*Marketing, the act of sat ...
s and fairs,
refuse collection
Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of list of waste treatment technologies, treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes th ...
,
recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...
,
cemeteries
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ) implies th ...
,
crematoria
Cremation is a method of final disposition of a corpse through burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and Syria, cremation on an open-air pyr ...
, leisure services, parks, and tourism. It is also responsible for
education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
,
social services
Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...
,
libraries
A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
, main roads,
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...
,
trading standards,
waste disposal
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final Waste disposal, disposal. This includes the Waste collection, collection, transport, Sewage treatment, treatm ...
and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the
Avon Fire and Rescue Service,
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the five unitary authority areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, all in South West Englan ...
and the
South Western Ambulance Service.
Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the
ceremonial county
Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch's repres ...
of
Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
but it is administered independently of the
non-metropolitan county
A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a subdivision of England used for local government.
The non-metropolitan counties were originally created in 1974 as part of a reform of local government in England and Wales, and ...
. Its administrative headquarters are in
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996 it was the
Wansdyke District and the
City of Bath
Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...
of the
county of Avon. Before 1974 that the parish was part of the
Bathavon Rural District.
The parish is part of 'Bathavon North'
electoral ward
A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...
. As well as covering ''Bathampton'',
Bathford and
Batheaston this ward stretches east to
Kelston. The total population of this ward as at the
2011 census was 7,147.
The parish is represented in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
as part of the
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
constituency. It elects one
Member of Parliament (MP) by the
first past the post
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...
system of election. It was also part of the
South West England constituency of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
prior to
Britain leaving the European Union in January 2020, which elected seven
MEPs
A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Comm ...
using the
d'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
of
party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered Political party, political parties, with each party being Apportionment (politics), allocated a certain number of seats Apportionm ...
.
Geography
Bathampton Rocks
Above Bathampton is a steep slope, heavily quarried for stone near the top in the area now called Bathampton Rocks, leading to
Bathampton Down. Until the late 1950s the track used for bringing stone down into the valley could be seen; it crossed the main
A36 road
The A36 is a trunk road and primary route in southwest England that links the port city of Southampton to the city of Bath. At Bath, the A36 connects with the A4 to Bristol, thus providing a road link between the major ports of Southampton an ...
over a short rock bridge known as the Dry Arch. This was demolished in 1958 as it was too low for double-decker buses and other traffic.
Bathampton Rocks was the site of the Bathampton Patrol (Auxiliary Units) Operational Base during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. at OS Grid Ref ST778651 ()
Bathampton Meadows

When the A46 Bathampton
by-pass was built, an area of 9 hectares was created to provide additional flood relief. The
wet meadow
A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...
s and the
oxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...
which were made have proved attractive to a number of migrant birds with waders such as
dunlin, ringed and little ringed
plover
Plovers ( , ) are members of a widely distributed group of wader, wading birds of subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name.
Species lis ...
, and green and common
sandpiper in spring and autumn.
Sand martin
The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as collared sand martin or common sand martin, and in the Americas as the bank swallow, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has a wide range in summer, embracing ...
and
kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
have been seen regularly by the oxbow, and other migrants have included
yellow wagtail,
whinchat and
hobby
A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing other ...
.
In 2009, the local Council identified the meadows as a possible new
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...
site to alleviate
traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...
in the city. In January 2017 the council confirmed that the Bathampton Meadows site as it preferred option for a park and ride site to the east of the city, However the owner, Steve Horler, says that he is unwilling to sell the land. Immediate plans were abandoned in 2017, following public opposition.
In January 2022, the
National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
announced the purchase of of Bathampton Meadows, the bulk of the meadow. A three-mile walking route was developed through the meadow, opened in September 2024.
Landmarks
Above the village is
Sham Castle, a
folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
built in 1762 by Richard James, master mason for
Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen ( – 29 June 1764) was a British postmaster, merchant and philanthropist best known for his reforms to General Post Office#Early postal services, Britain's postal system. Born in St Columb Major, Cornwall, he moved to Bath, Somers ...
, "to improve the prospect" from Allen's town house in Bath. It is a screen wall with a central pointed arch flanked by two 3-storey circular turrets, which extend sideways to a 2-storey square tower at each end of the wall. It is illuminated at night.
Church
In the 13th century
John Stafford, who later became the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, was the vicar of Bathampton.
The
Parish Church of St Nicholas has 13th-century origins with 15th-century alterations and tower. In the mid-18th century
Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen ( – 29 June 1764) was a British postmaster, merchant and philanthropist best known for his reforms to General Post Office#Early postal services, Britain's postal system. Born in St Columb Major, Cornwall, he moved to Bath, Somers ...
added
Gothic components after he acquired Bathampton Manor by marriage in 1731. The building was further
restored
''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard Aus ...
and the north aisle built in 1858 by Henry Goodridge and the chancel was restored in 1882 by
Charles Edward Davis. The "Australia Chapel" in the south aisle contains memorials to the Allen family and to Admiral
Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...
, the first Governor of
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
.
Phillip was buried in the church after his death in 1814 and although it was unnoticed for many years, the grave was discovered in 1897 and the Premier of New South Wales,
Sir Henry Parkes, had it restored. The windows of the sanctuary carry the
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
of the Federal Government and the six Australian States.
Buried in the church yard is the body of the French aristocrat, Adolphe, Vicomte du Barry, a nephew-by-marriage and close personal friend of
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry (; 28 August 1744 – 8 December 1793) was the last ''maîtresse-en-titre'' of King Louis XV of France. She was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution on accusations of treason—particularly being ...
,
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...
's legendarily beautiful mistress. The Vicomte had been living in nearby
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
when he was killed in a
duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons.
During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...
with an Irish adventurer, Captain Rice.
[Joan Haslip, ''Madame du Barry: The Wages of Beauty'', (1992), p. 120]
References
External links
{{Commons category, Bathampton
Bathampton village websiteSt Nicholas Church, Bathampton
Kennet and Avon Canal
Villages in Bath and North East Somerset
Civil parishes in Somerset
Cotswolds