As the new Southway estate was being carved from the Parish of Tamerton Foliot so a number of the new street names were taken from the back pages of the area’s history – among them Bampfylde Way.
There are a number of memorials to the Bampfyldes in St Mary’s Church, Tamerton, notably to Margaret, daughter of Hugh Bampfylde. Margaret died in 1686 and the wording on her stone reads “Her make was too refined for this gross sphere”.Another, altogether more elaborate memorial commemorates the all too short life of Copleston Bampfylde who died in 1669 – he was just ten years old. The son of Sir Copleston Bampfylde (name brings together two well-known families) of Poltimore (north of Exeter) and Warleigh his is a much longer inscription, in Latin and Greek, and informs us that the young man was graceful, pure and “studious beyond his years”.
The name Bampfylde appears to come originally from near Poltimore and was recorded as Benefeld in 1306 and probably means “bean” “feld” (a long obsolete wordfor field). The erstwhile Bampfylde almshouses that stood near the bottom of Horesham Lane were built in 1827.
