North Aston

Coordinates: 51°57′22″N 1°18′32″W / 51.956°N 1.309°W / 51.956; -1.309

North Aston
North Aston  North Aston shown within Oxfordshire
Population	212 (2001 census)[1]
OS grid reference	SP4728
Parish	North Aston
District	Cherwell
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Bicester
Postcode district	OX25
Dialling code	01869
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Banbury
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

North Aston is a village and civil parish about 7.5 miles (12 km) south of Banbury and 10 miles (16 km) north of Oxford.

The village is mainly situated around a traditional village green, complete with hand-carved sign and drinking fountain – the latter originally installed in 1863 on the orders of the then Lord of the Manor, William Foster-Melliar, but restored as part of the village's celebrations of the Millennium in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

A majority of homes in North Aston are Victorian or earlier^{[citation needed]} and are built of local limestone. Much of the village is in a conservation area and there have been few changes over the years, although a number of newer houses have been added recently.^[when?]

History

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin existed by 1151, when William of Aston gave it to the Augustinian Bradenstoke Priory in Wiltshire.^[2] George Gilbert Scott restored and enlarged the building in 1867.^[3] The tower has a ring of six bells.^[4] Henry III Bagley, who had bell-foundries at Chacombe and Witney,^[5] cast the tenor bell in 1741.^[6] John Warner and Sons of London^[5] cast two more bells in 1866.^[6] John Taylor & Co of Loughborough^[5] cast the remaining three bells including the treble in 1979.^[6]

Since 1976 St. Mary's has belonged to a united Church of England Benefice with the neighbouring parishes of Steeple Aston and Tackley.

North Aston Hall is a large Jacobethan country house, rebuilt in the 17th century and remodelled in the 18th century.^[7]

The Manor House is an H-shaped building of which the central part was probably the hall of a 15th century house^[8] or earlier. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 the neighbouring and ultimately much grander North Aston Hall became the primary home of the lords of the manor of North Aston, while the manor house became one of the main farm houses of the estate. Occupied by various tenants, the property was called Great House Farm during the 18th and 19th centuries, later Manor House Farm. It was sold as part of the North Aston Estate in 1907, the last time the village was sold as a single entity. The Manor House became the primary home of the Taylor family after they sold the Hall to Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford in 1911. In the 1930s Captain John Vickris Taylor had a new house built on land that had once formed part of the tract associated with Great House Farm, and called this Manor Farm. in 1976 the Captain's son, Colonel Anthony Taylor, sold the Manor itself to Charles Mackenzie Hill, who subsequently also bought North Aston Hall.^[9]

The Domesday Book records a watermill in the parish, presumably on the River Cherwell.^[2] The Gambon family were the millers for most of the 13th century, and it continued to be called Gambon's Mill until the 18th century.^[2] From the latter part of the 16th century until early in the 18th century it seems to have been a double mill with two millraces and two separate tenants.^[2] The last known record of a double mill is from 1733.^[2] The Rose family were millers here continuously from 1673 until its commercial closure in 1938, although grain continued to be milled for local use throughout the period of the Second World War, and for a brief time afterwards. The Mill was sold off by the Estate in 1950 and by 1955 had been converted into a private home.^[9] Its machinery has been restored and in 1980 remained in situ.^[2]

The stretch of the Oxford Canal between Banbury and Tackley was completed in 1787.^[10] It runs along the Cherwell valley and for a short distance it forms the eastern boundary of North Aston parish.

A village school was built in 1844 and was supervised by the Church of England Diocese of Oxford.^[2] In 1872 it moved to new premises when William Foster-Melliar converted the original coach house to the North Aston Hall into a schoolroom with two teachers' cottages attached. In 1923 it was reorganised as a junior school and senior pupils were transferred to the school at Steeple Aston. After the second World War the number of pupils steadily declined, and in 1955 North Aston school was closed. For some twenty years the old schoolroom acted as a village hall to the community, but in 1976 the building was converted for residential use.^[9]

Economy

North Aston has a substantial garden centre, Nicholsons Nurseries.^[11]

North Aston Farms is an accredited organic mixed farm producing vegetables, dairy products and meat.^{[citation needed]}

The Peach Pub Company^[12] moved its head office to a restored barn at Park Farm, North Aston, in January 2009.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "Area: North Aston CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=798590&c=North+Aston&d=16&e=15&g=480251&i=1001x1003x1004&o=1&m=0&r=1&s=1268053237426&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779. Retrieved 8 March 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Crossley et al., 1983, pages 6-21
3. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 718
4. ^ Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Banbury Branch: Tower Guide: North Aston
5. ^ ^{a b c} "Bell Founders". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/founders.php. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} "North Aston S Mary V". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=North+Aston&DoveID=NORTH+ASTO. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
7. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, pages 718-719
8. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 719
9. ^ ^{a b c} Potts & Harvey-Lee, 2007, page not cited
10. ^ Compton, 1976, page 37
11. ^ Nicholsons Nurseries
12. ^ The Peach Pub Company

Sources

• Compton, Hugh J (1976). The Oxford Canal. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 37. ISBN 0 7153 7238 6. 
• Crossley, Alan; Elrington, C.R. (eds.); Chance, Eleanor; Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Janet; Day, C.J.; Hassall, T.G.; Selwyn, Nesta (1979). A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 6–21. 
• Potts, Marcus; Harvey-Lee, John, eds (2007). North Aston - A Millennium. North Aston: Elizabeth Harvey-Lee. ISBN 978-1-902863-18-4. 
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 718–719. ISBN 0 14 071045 0. 
• Wing, William (1867). The Annals of North Aston. Oxford. 

External links

Media related to North Aston at Wikimedia Commons