To the east of the mound was a rectangular bailey, defended to the south by the steep slope down to the River Batherm.

[4][5] The English Civil War reached Bampton in 1645, when Royalists from Tiverton Castle burnt the town, so that few buildings earlier than the 17th century survive.

[1] Parts of the former vicarage date from the middle of the 15th century;[7] and the Exeter Inn on the edge of the town was originally a farmhouse built in 1495.

[8] The annual Bampton Fair was established by Royal Charter in 1258 and is held every year on the last Thursday in October.

In the 1920s, a miners' strike caused large sell off of pit ponies and prices at Bampton collapsed.

After the end of pony sales in 1985, the revenue from the fair began to decline with fewer stallholders than previously and there was an increase in the number of food stalls.

Exmoor Ponies used to be rounded up on the moors during the so-called Autumn Drift and driven by road to be sold at the fair.

After being driven from the moors via Dulverton and Exebridge, the ponies were brought to an old orchard behind the Tiverton Hotel (now called the Quarryman's Rest) where they were kept in wooden pens.

A number of recommendations were made to improve the welfare of the ponies, although the meeting did reach a consensus that the fair was more trouble free than any other.

However, the RSPCA and the auctioneers did request a number of improvements to the way ponies were loaded onto lorries and repairs to some of the pens.

While alternative sites were offered to hold the sales, the council was unwilling to spend the money needed to fulfil the obligations for an event which was only held once a year.

From 2004 to 2013, farm-tackle, Exmoor ponies and other livestock were auctioned as part of the Fair again, a little way out of town, at Luttrell Quarry.