| Asthall | |
|---|---|
.JPG) St. Nicholas' parish church | |
  Asthall Location withinOxfordshire | |
| Population | 252 (parish) (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SP2811 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Burford |
| Postcode district | OX18 |
| Post town | Witney |
| Postcode district | OX29 |
| Dialling code | 01993 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Asthall orAsthal is a village andcivil parish on theRiver Windrush in theWest Oxfordshire district, inOxfordshire, about 6 miles (10 km) west ofWitney. It includes thehamlets of Asthall Leigh, FieldAssarts, Stonelands,Worsham and part of Fordwells.
The2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 252.[2] Asthall village is just south of the River Windrush, which also forms the southeastern part of its boundary. The remainder of the parish including all of its hamlets lie north of the river. A minor road through Fordwells forms most of the parish's northern boundary. Most of the remainder of the parish's boundary is formed by field boundaries.
The name Asthall derives from theOld English words ēast 'east' + healh 'corner, nook', attested in the early 11th century asEast Heolon.[3]
On Leigh Hale Plain there are twobarrows that may date from theBronze Age.[4] The course ofAkeman StreetRoman Road that linkedWatling Street withFosse Way passes through the parish just south of the village and through the middle of Windrush Farm. The road crossed the Windrush about1⁄2 mile (800 m) east of the village. Traces of aRoman settlement have been found on both sides of the course of the road on low-lying land between Windrush Farm and the site of the Roman river crossing.[5] It was occupied from the middle of the first century AD to the latter part of the fourth century.[4]
Artefacts recovered include a bronze figurine of a bird seizing ahare.[6]3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) south of the village, beside the main Witney –Burford road (now part of theA40 trunk road) is an early 7th centurySaxon burial mound,Asthall barrow, that contained the cremated remains of a man.[4] Objects from the barrow are now in theAshmolean Museum inOxford.
The parish is elongated north-eastwards. A record of 1300 states that themanor of Asthall was extended intoWychwood Forest after 1154.[4] The name of Field Assarts in the north-east of the parish refers toassarting:[4] the medieval process of clearing any uncultivated land to convert it to agriculture.[7] The north-eastern parts of Asthall parish remainedpurlieus of the Wychwood until it was disafforested in 1857.[4]
TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Nicholas[8] was enlarged in about 1160, when the northaisle and northtransept were added to an earlier church. The north transept arch and thearcade between thenave and north aisle are in the Transitional style betweenNorman architecture andEarly English Gothic.[9] Thechancel was rebuilt in the 13th century in the Early English Gothic style. The west window of the north aisle is in the earlyDecorated Gothic style of the late 13th century. There is another Decorated Gothic window on the south side of the nave. In about 1350 the north transept was remodelled and its roof height increased above that of the nave. After this the remaining windows were added in thePerpendicular Gothic style. The west tower was built in the 15th century.[10]
The church was restored in 1885, and the chancel arch was probably rebuilt at this time.[9] The church is aGrade II* listed building.[11] The tower has aring of six bells. TheWokingham foundry cast the fifth and tenor bells in about 1499.[12]John Taylor & Co cast the fourth bell in 1859, presumably at the foundry they then had in Oxford.[13]Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the treble, second and third bells in 2005.[12] St Nicholas' also has aSanctus bell, which was cast in 1640 by James Keene,[12] who had foundries atWoodstock andBedford.[13] St Nicholas' parish is now a member of theBenefice of Burford,Fulbrook,Taynton, Asthall,Swinbrook andWidford.[14]
In the summer of 2007 ahoard of 110 goldangel and half-angel coins was found during building work at Asthall.[15] The coins were minted at dates from 1470 to 1526, most of them in the brief second reign ofHenry VI (1470–71) or the reign ofRichard III (1483–85).[15] The hoard is believed to have been buried in the latter half of the reign ofHenry VIII (1509–47).[15] In April 2010 acoroner found the hoard to be treasure as defined by theTreasure Act 1996, and in August theTreasure Valuation Committee valued it at £280,000.[15] TheAshmolean Museum in Oxford acquired the hoard in December 2010, and put the coins on display from March 2011.[15]
Asthall Manor House is an H-shaped house built in about 1620 for Sir William Jones. In 1810 the1st Baron Redesdale (of the first creation) bought the house, which then remained in his family until 1926. In 1916 the architect Charles Bateman altered and enlarged the house for the2nd Baron Redesdale (of the second creation).[10] Lord Redesdale's daughters were the sixMitford sisters, of whomDeborah, the youngest, was born at Asthall Manor in 1920. In 1926 the Mitford family left Asthall and moved to a newcountry house that Lord Redesdale had had built atSwinbrook.
The Tenant-in-Chief of Asthall in theDomesday Book in 1086 was Roger d'Ivery. Another name for a tenant-in-chief was a baron, specifically one who held tenureper baroniam.[16] This feudal barony survives to this day.
Asthall village has a public house, The Three Horseshoes (formerly The Maytime Inn), which is now agastropub.[17]
The British politicianBaroness Scotland of Asthal, the formerAttorney-General for England and Wales, lives in Asthall.[18]
