| Aust | |
|---|---|
 Aust Church | |
  Aust Location withinGloucestershire | |
| Population | 532 (2011)[1] |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Bristol |
| Postcode district | BS35 |
| Police | Avon and Somerset |
| Fire | Avon |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Aust is a small village inSouth Gloucestershire, England, about 10 miles (16 km) north ofBristol and about 28 miles (45 km) south west ofGloucester. It is located on the eastern side of theSevern estuary, close to the eastern end of theSevern Bridge which carries theM48 motorway. The village has a chapel, a church and a public house. There is a large area of farmland on the river bank, which is sometimes flooded due to the hightidal range of theSevern.Aust Cliff, above the Severn, is located about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from the village.[2] Thecivil parish of Aust includes the villages ofElberton andLittleton-upon-Severn.
Aust, on the River Severn, was at one end of an ancient Roman road that led toCirencester.[3] Its name, Aust, may be one of the very few English place-names to be derived from theLatinAugusta.[4][5][nb 1]
"Augustin endeavoured to persuade theWelsh clergy to join him in preaching the Gospel to the Teutonic invaders,and held a meeting with them at or near Aust, on the Severn. But theyrefused to acknowledge his authority, or even to hold communion with him,and would not give up their peculiar usages with respect to the date ofEaster and the administration of Baptism"("The English Church in the Middle Ages" by William Hunt)
The name of Aust is recorded in 793 or 794 asAustan (terram aet Austan v manentes) when it was returned to theChurch of Worcester after having been taken byKing Offa's earl, Bynna.[6][7] In Domesday,Aust Cliff was recorded asAustreclive, "clive" being a Middle English spelling of cliff.[4][6] and the estate was held byTurstin FitzRolf in 1066.[8] In 1368 the area was calledAugst, "the short unmistakable form of Augusta.[4]
Historically Aust was a village and manor in the parish ofHenbury.[4]
It was reported as a part of the church of Worcester'sWestbury on Trym estate in the Domesday book.[7][nb 2] About 1100Winebaud de Ballon gave the church to the Abbey of St Vincent, Le Mans.[4] In the 14th century, the chapel at Aust was part of theChurch of Westbury.[9]
TheLollard theologianJohn Wycliffe (died 1384) is by tradition said to have beenprebend of Aust and to have preached there, yet Baker (1901) was unable to find any record of such an appointment in the diocesan registers at Worcester, whichsee held Aust for many centuries.[10]
The existing church isdedicated toSt John, and is mostly built in thePerpendicular Gothic style. The timber roofs and octagonal stonefont date from the 15th century, and the western church tower, with anembattled parapet, was probably rebuilt in theTudor period. The church contains several 18th-centurymarble memorial tablets, the earliest dated 1704 to Sir Samuel Astry. The whole church was restored in 1866 by the firm ofPope & Bindon.[11]
The estate at Aust was held from the Bishop of Worcester as part of the extensivefeudal barony ofTurstin FitzRolf who had acted as standard-bearer toWilliam the Conqueror at theBattle of Hastings in 1066.[8] FitzRolf's properties in Gloucestershire were heldin capite,[12] including Aust, reverted to the Crown and then were granted toWynebald de Ballon fromMaine. Wynebald had a holding at Caerleon on theRiver Usk near the manor of his brotherHamelin de Ballon ofAbergavenny. Both brothers made significant donations to the Abbey of St Vincent at Le Mans, including Wynebald's donation of the church of Aust.[13]
A daughter of de Ballon married a man named de Newmarch, their son Henry held the estate of Aust in 1166. John, his son and heir, next held Aust. One of John's daughters and co-heiress married Ralf Russell ofKingston Russell, who then held the estate.[12]
It passed inmoiety through generations of the Russell and then Dennis families, through Margret Russell who married SirGilbert Denys (died 1422) to her grandson Walt Dennis. The moiety was purchased by the Astry family,[14] The other moiety of Aust was held by Roger de Acton and was eventually sold to the Astry family.[15] Reportedly it came into the Astry family in 1652.[16] It was passed through several generations and was sold several times. In 1801, it was owned bySacheverell Sitwell of Derbyshire.[15]
The village is within a short walking distance of 24hr shops at nearbySevern View services (originally known as Aust Services), a smallmotorway service area operated byMoto on theM48 motorway near theSevern Bridge.The main building is a two-storey timber and stone construction.[11] The service area was listed as the last-known (February 1995) whereabouts of formerManic Street Preachers band memberRichey Edwards, officially presumed deceased since 2008.[17]
The Severn Bridge, asuspension bridge opened as part of theM4 motorway (later renamed the M48) in 1966, crosses the Severn estuary between Aust andBeachley.[11] It was the firstSevern road crossing south of Gloucester, and took five years to construct at a cost of £8 million.[18] It replaced theAust Ferry.
The Aust Ferry passage across the Severn estuary between Aust and Beachley – later known as the Old Passage – was used from antiquity. In the 12th century, responsibility was granted to the monks ofTintern Abbey, and it continued to operate in subsequent centuries. From 1827, a regularsteamboat ferry service was established, but it lost much of its trade when a rival service was set up downstream atNew Passage in 1863, and when theSevern rail tunnel was opened in 1886. The growth of road traffic led to the re-establishment of a ferry between Aust and Beachley in 1926, carrying no more than 17 vehicles each time.Bob Dylan was photographed in 1966 standing outside the ferry ticket office, with the almost-completed Severn Bridge behind; the photo was used to publiciseMartin Scorsese's filmNo Direction Home.[19] The ferry service closed when the Severn Bridge was opened in September 1966.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
