Aston Clinton

infobox UK place
country = England
static_

static_image_caption=
latitude= 51.7992
longitude=-0.7209
official_name =Aston Clinton
population = 3,542 [ [http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=792012&c=Aston+Clinton&d=16&e=15&g=423995&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1215967660078&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779 |Neighbourhood Statistics 2001 Census] ]
shire_district= Aylesbury Vale
shire_county= Buckinghamshire
metropolitan_borough=
metropolitan_county =
region=South East England
constituency_westminster=
post_town= AYLESBURY
postcode_district = HP22
postcode_area=HP
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= SP880121

Aston Clinton is a village and civil parish that sits close to the main A41 road in Buckinghamshire, England between Tring and Aylesbury. The parish is 3,809 acres (15 km²) in size and is about 4 miles (6 km) east of Aylesbury. The parish had a population of 3,542 according to the 2001 census. The village is located at the foot of the chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills at the junction of the pre-historic track the Icknield Way with the Roman Road Akeman Street. It is bisected both at the northern end of the parish by the Aylesbury Arm and in the centre of the parish by the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

Early history

Is is believed that the village started at the crossing of two Roman roads, Akeman Street and Icknield Way [ [http://www.btinternet.com/~mark.peers/achome.htm |Aston Clinton Home Page] ] , both of which are still main roads in the village. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it became a Saxon settlement and remains of a Saxon cemetery were found during the construction of the Aston Clinton Bypass.

Before the Norman Invasion in 1066 the settlement was held by Wlwen probably under patronage of Edward the Confessor. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 where in Old English it was called "Estone", which means "eastern estate".

The manor, later to be known as Aston Clinton, was for a short period after 1100 under the control of Edward de Salisbury, who was King Henry I’s standard-bearer. In 1217 King Henry III gave it to Sir William de Farendon. However by 1237 the manor was owned by the de Clinton family, hence the name at that time of "Aston de Clinton". William de Clinton separated out from Aston Clinton a new manor called Chivery as a dowry for his daughter Alice. Sometime after 1239, King Edward I granted the estates to the Montacutes, who were the ancestors of the Earls of Salisbury. Their descendant the Countess of Salisbury was beheaded by King Henry VIII in 1541. Successive families owned the manor, passing by marriage from the Hastings to the Barringtons, Gerards, and then to Lord Lake of Aston Clinton later to become Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake.

Aston Clinton today

The modern parish of Aston Clinton was created in 1934. Of the other medieval manors:- Dundridge; Chivery; St Leonards and Vaches, historically all closely associated with Aston Clinton, only Chivery and Vaches have remained distinct parts of Aston Clinton, which now forms part of Aylesbury Vale District. Dundridge manor, became part of the ecclesiastical parish of St Leonards which has itself since 1934 become part of the parish of Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards.

The parish church, St Michael and All Angels Church, is dedicated to St Michael.

Property values in the village is set to rise now that the Aston Clinton Bypass opened on October 3 2003. The new road means that traffic from Aylesbury to London via Watford that previously went through the middle of the village is now diverted away from it.

The car manufacturer Aston Martin took one part of its name from the village combining it with that of its co-founder Lionel Martin. It had great success in the hill climb competition up nearby Aston Hill. A plaque now marks the site.

In the centre of the village is the Anthony Hall which was donated to the village by the widow of Anthony Nathan de Rothschild.

Aston Clinton School is a primary school, which takes children from the age of 4 through to the age of 11. The school has approximately 275 pupils. The school badge includes the five arrows from the Rothschild coat of arms, because the family built the first schools in the village.

ee also

*Aston Clinton House
*St Michael and All Angels Church, Aston Clinton

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/3160720.stm Bypass opens.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1710492.stm Saxon remains found in 2001 when bypass was being built.]
* [http://www.a41astonclintonbypass.co.uk Aston Clinton Bypass site]
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=62779&strquery=aston%20clinton British History Online – Victorian History of Buckinghamshire Volume 2 – Aston Clinton]
* [http://www.astonclinton.ik.org/ Aston Clinton School]
* [http://www.acbc.org.uk/ Aston Clinton Baptist Church]