One states that in about 1142 AD during the reign of Stephen, Matilda built a motte castle.

"[3] The castle is mentioned in Skelton's, Antiquities of Oxfordshire, where he states that the castle was four-sided, with a tower at each corner and a fortified gatehouse on the eastern and western sides and corbelled out turrets for additional fortification.

[4] The castle was demolished before 1789[3] but parts of its structure have been incorporated into a house, Ham Court, which is a Grade II* listed building.

[3] The castle (as it was in the 1360s) is the primary setting for the fictional medieval mystery series written by Mel Starr, the first of which is "The Unquiet Bones, the first chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon.

[8] It was presumably so named in order to reduce confusion with telephone exchanges for other places in Britain called "Bampton" (which did not have castles).