Where is steeple aston

A monthly magazine, Steeple Aston Life, contains news, views and details of village events past and future. It is distributed free to all residents, and available for sale in the village shop.

Steeple Aston is an unusual village in that it has no natural focus, such as a village green. Instead it is built in a rectangle around a steep valley, through which runs a tributary of the River Cherwell. There are many ancient and listed houses in the village. The parish church, St Peter and St Paul, goes back at least 1, years.

It is little surprise then that Steeple Aston was designated as a conservation area in March This means that it is regarded as an area of special architectural and historic interest, which should be preserved and enhanced. He, the rector a. In the later 19th century and 20th the number of farms in Steeple Aston changed little, although their size fluctuated with changes of tenancy.

Hopcroft's Holt inn and 68 a. Brasenose farm was bought in by Richard's son W. Middle Aston's farms were little changed until the estate was bought in the s by Lawrence Robson. Warren Barn was made a separate farm and was bought in by G. Preston, who in built the farmhouse there.

The rest of the estate was bought in by Spillers Ltd. Most of the land was sold in to T. Davis of Grange Farm.

Barley and wheat were the most important crops, each occupying almost a quarter of the arable in the parish, and oats and root crops were also grown. The number of cattle kept, 16 for a. There is evidence of unemployment and poverty in Steeple Aston throughout the 19th century. The parish was not immediately affected by the Swing Riots of , but the burning of hay ricks, for which a Steeple Aston labourer was executed in , may have been connected. Cottages in Middle Aston, a 'closed' village, were in much better condition.

Apart from labourers the usual trades and occupations associated with an agricultural community are to be found from the 16th century, notably blacksmiths, wheelwrights, masons, carpenters, weavers, maltsters, and bakers. In the 18th century the parish also included a tailor, a milliner, and a cordwainer. Tradesmen and artisans frequently combined their businesses with smallholdings. There was an unusually large number of tradesmen and artisans: in heads of households who were engaged in trades and crafts 44 outnumbered labourers There were 4 shopkeepers, 3 shoemakers, a tailor, a miller, a tallow chandler, and 3 teachers.

By there were also an apothecary and a watchmender. Middle Aston was more conventionally agricultural, although it, too, had a shopkeeper and a milliner. There were 41 domestic servants in Steeple Aston and 4 in Middle Aston in , and the several 'mansions' in the parish were an important source of employment. In the later 19th century agricultural labourers once more formed an increasing proportion of the population, but tradesmen and small industrial businesses continued to flourish, particularly in the building trade.

A small brickyard on the east side of Paine Street was in operation by , and was still in use in In it was remarked that young people were leaving Steeple Aston to enter service or to work in towns. In there were a few shops and a riding centre in Steeple Aston. At Middle Aston, Spillers Ltd.

There were also a tile warehouse and an estate agent's office in Middle Aston village. Cuttle mill, in the south-east corner of the parish, north-east of Heyford bridge, was in existence by at least ; fn.

In the late 17th century sole ownership of the mill was obtained by John Davis. Intended as an eyecatcher to be seen in conjunction with the sham ruined arch to the north, the mill was given a pinnacled gable and flying buttresses, which it retained in Its thatched roof was replaced by stone slate in the 19th century. Pillars of rough stone on top of the buttresses, often admired for their effect as a picturesque ruin, were also added in the 19th century, probably for structural reasons.

There was a windmill in Steeple Aston in the early 18th century. It had apparently gone by the later 19th century, when only the site was remembered.

Middle Aston mill, c. A court held c. The court last sat at Steeple Aston in Nuisances were regulated, fines levied for encroachments, quit rents received, and constables and tithingmen appointed. There was close co-operation between the court leet and the vestry, and the distinction between their functions was not always clear.

When the vestry decided on perambulations of the township boundaries in and it turned to the leet jury to conduct them. There were usually two surveyors of highways and, in the s, two collectors of taxes.

In the second churchwarden was said to be nominated alternately by the inhabitants of Steeple Aston and Middle Aston, but in the 18th century he was always from Middle Aston. Complaints in the 19th century that the people of Steeple Aston were thereby deprived of a churchwarden of their own led to the appointment from of a third churchwarden, but that practice was disallowed in Steeple Aston and Middle Aston were united for poor law purposes until when Francis Page, owner of Middle Aston, secured their separation.

There had previously been one overseer for each township; records were kept separately but signed by both overseers. From a second overseer was appointed in each place and administration became completely distinct. In the mid 19th century there were several attempts by the ratepayers of Steeple Aston to return to the old arrangement, for reasons set out below.

The proposal was rejected by magistrates, fn. The cost per head rose only to c. In it stood at 11 s. Middle Aston spent proportionately more than Steeple Aston on its poor in the late 18th century and early 19th, when the cost per head was nearly double that in Steeple Aston. In only 9 adults received regular relief in Steeple Aston and 5 in Middle Aston.

The total for Middle Aston remained low thereafter, but it increased in Steeple Aston, to 17 in and to 25 in Able-bodied labourers in Steeple Aston were said in not to request relief unless they were sick or had large families, but the exemption from rates of as many as a quarter of the village's houses indicates widespread poverty. The roundsman system was in use in Steeple Aston by the early 19th century.

In there were 10, all of which were sold in that year. After the passing in of the Act amending the law on settlement fn. That complaint lay behind the attempt in to have Steeple Aston and Middle Aston treated once more as a single unit for poor law purposes. The dispute was not resolved until the Union Chargeability Act of spread the responsibility over a wider area. They were included in Woodstock rural district in , in Banbury rural district in , and in Cherwell district in The church existed by c.

Stephen's chapel, Westminster, from which it was purchased in by William Smith, bishop of Lincoln, and given in the same year to Brasenose College, Oxford. The college reinstated the rectory, returning glebe and tithes to the incumbent. In the early 13th century the right to tithes from Nethercote was claimed by both Steeple Aston and North Aston. The tithes were shared by agreement until the early 14th century, when the dispute arose again and seems to have been settled by Steeple Aston taking the tithes in exchange for a small amount of land in Nethercote.

By the end of the century it was established that since one of the yardlands enjoyed rights of cow common it could not be glebe; Middle Aston glebe traditionally lacked such rights.

The former rectory house stood west of the churchyard. Assessed at 7 hearths in , fn. The parlour was oak-wainscotted and had a board floor; the kitchen had a stone floor and the other ground-floor rooms had earth floors. Extensive outbuildings included a slated dovecote and a thatched gate house.

In a hall and entrance with rooms over were also mentioned. The first known rector of Steeple Aston, Henry of Aston fl. In William was licensed to go on pilgrimage abroad, and died in that year. In the prior leased the church to a Steeple Aston woman and her son who undertook to see that services were provided. Many rectors thereafter were absentees, and one, George Atkinson, may have been a Catholic, fn. Most absentee rectors took an active interest in the parish, visited it regularly, and supplied conscientious curates who for the most part went on to enjoy exemplary careers in the Church.

The most distinguished rector, Samuel Radcliffe, —48, was principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, from , and as a Laudian and royalist was ordered out of his college office in by the parliamentary Visitors but died before he could be ejected. Radcliffe's reputation as college principal has been controversial, fn. He seems, however, to have adhered to many of his earlier opinions; a funeral sermon preached by him in was Presbyterian in tone and emphasized the doctrine of predestination.

Duckworth, another Presbyterian installed as fellow of Brasenose by the parliamentary Visitors, was one of only six Oxfordshire clergymen to read James II's Declaration of Liberty of Conscience.

They complained in that services were neglected; that when he came to the parish Duckworth hid in the rectory, even on Sundays; that he refused to appoint a curate; that he involved his parishioners in lawsuits; that he neglected parish customs.

It was said to be customary for the rector to provide entertainment at christenings and to provide cakes and ale when the inhabitants paid their small tithes. The rector also customarily gave a dinner on Christmas morning to all married folk in Steeple Aston, in the evening to their children and servants; the entertainment was repeated the following day for the inhabitants of Middle Aston.

Duckworth countered that there was no terrier; that the church was out of repair; that the parish records were in private hands; that the pulpit had been moved to the darkest corner of the church; that the parish clerk's seat had been removed so that he was forced to 'lean over the back of some seat which caused much irreverence in divine service, others.

Beneath the bickering lay the question of tithes, Easter offerings, and surplice fees, about which Duckworth felt his predecessors had become lax.

For most of the 18th century Steeple Aston was unusual in being served by conscientious, resident rectors, some of whom also appointed resident curates. Services were more frequent and communicants more numerous than in neighbouring parishes. Thomas Beconsal, rector —9, and George Freeman, rector —45, married local women. Under Freeman there were two services and a sermon every Sunday, and communion five times a year; the catechism was taught regularly.

From he was vicar of Duns Tew, and in the s he also served Upper Heyford. Although he lived in Steeple Aston and employed a curate there, the number of communicants had been halved by An openhanded, popular figure, he resided at the parsonage for most of the year but was absent for long periods in the summer. His services were lackadaisical, and he was known on occasions to combine Sunday service with a funeral, yet the number of communicants increased, and his curates ran a Sunday school with 51 pupils in The rectory was rebuilt and the church restored, but he was a man 'of the old school', unwilling to meet the increased demands on his office.

He preached the same sermons repeatedly. The parishioners complained in about the paucity of services and in about the lack of parish visiting. Thomas Curme, the evangelical vicar of Sandford St. Martin, took it upon himself to interfere in Steeple Aston until rebuked by the bishop, who eventually persuaded Burrows to appoint a curate.

In a sometimes unruly parish not noted in the later 19th century for religious zeal Brookes achieved wide respect. Congregations increased from in to in , and by the end of the century there were a well attended communion service and children's service every Sunday, three services on Holy Days, and special services in Advent and Lent.

The church of ST. PAUL fn. It is built of both limestone and ironstone and comprises a chancel with north chapel, nave of three bays, north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower, all battlemented. The font, decorated with diamond and chevron patterns, may also be of the 12th century, although apparently recut in the later 17th century.

In the mid 14th century the spacious north chapel was built; despite later alterations to the chapel the east window, with its fine reticulated tracery, remains, as do the arches connecting the chapel with the chancel and north aisle.

The chapel contains an unusual double piscina with cusped arches decorated with a ram's head. The south aisle was rebuilt in the 14th century; the piscina, on the south wall, and the south doorway still remain. Rebuilding continued in the late 14th century and early 15th when the north aisle was widened to match the north chapel.

On the south wall of the chapel a corbel depicting a woman's head wearing headdress of the early 15th century suggests that the chapel was reroofed then. To the same period belong the building of the south porch and the rebuilding of the tower, and it is possible that a clerestory was also added, although it was regarded as late work in the 19th century when it was removed.

The medieval church contained an altar dedicated to St. Catherine, probably at the east end of the north aisle, and there seems to have been an image of Our Lady, with a light, in the north chapel. There was also a light, its location unknown, dedicated to St.

In the later 17th century the rector, Richard Duckworth, complained strongly about the church's poor state of repair.

Duckworth's rebuilding also reputedly destroyed a crypt, piscina, and sedilia in the chancel. Some sort of partition between the chapel and the chancel had presumably been built by Duckworth to keep out the weather, but it may have been rebuilt by Page since pieces of alabaster possibly belonging to two tombs seen c.

The Page monument, dominating the chapel, was commissioned from Henry Scheemakers on the death of Page's wife in It depicts Page and his wife reclining within a classical portico.

Beneath the chapel floor is a large vault containing the remains of Page and his family. The chancel roof was repaired in and the nave roof in Great care was taken to model the work on the existing architecture. The north aisle was completely rebuilt in Perpendicular style, its eastern window re-used and made the model for the others. The north arcade was taken down and rebuilt, the clerestory removed, and the nave given a higher roof. The west gallery was removed, the south aisle was partly rebuilt and its windows given new tracery, and the outer walls of the porch were rebuilt.

The church walls were plastered. The old pews were broken up and their 16th-century traceried panels, reputedly among the finest in Oxfordshire, used as bench ends on new pews. It is the principal residence of the Dukes of Marlborough, and the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England … read more.

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Relaxed cafe in a great location next to the canal. Cyclist friendly with plenty of room for bikes. The Church of England Anglican became the official state religion in , with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion. Census records from to are available online. For access, see England Census. Census records from to are also available on film through a Family History Center or at the Family History Library.

Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. Go to Oxfordshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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