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D IR E C T O R Y .]

B E R K S H IR E .

A S H B U R Y is a parish, 2£ miles south-by-east from
Shrivenham station on the Great Western railway, 8
miles south from Faringdon and 20 from Newbury, in
the Northern division of the county, hundred of
Shrivenham , petty sessional division, union and county
court district of Faringdon, rural deanery of the Vale
of W hite Horse, archdeaconry of Berks and diocese of
O xford ; it is the extrem e parish on the north-west of
the county near W iltshire, with the ham let of Kingstone Winslow and the tithings of Odstone and Idstone
annexed. The church of St. Mary is an ancient cruci­
form structure in the E arly English and Decorated
styles, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles,
transepts, north porch and a massive em battled
western tower, with pinnacles, containing 6 b ells: the
late Norman doorway in the south aisle, re-opened in
1873, is a fine example of the style, w ith the usual
zigzag m ould ings: the chancel is principally Early
English, and retains a p iscin a; the aisles and north
porch are Perpendicular; the latter has a good groined
and' traceried roof, over which is a p arvise: a few of
the windows have also Decorated tracery: in the south
transept is a trefoiled piscina and a large cinque-foiled
arch, now enclosing an ancient stone coffin, previously
lying in the ch u rch yard ; between the walls of this
transept and the arch of the south aisle is a remarkable
hagioscope filled with open tra c e ry : the north aisle
retains a singular open fireplace of some antiquity: in
the chancel are brasses with effigies to W illiam Skelton
L L .B . prepositus of WTells Cathedral, form erly rector
of this parish and of St. Vedast’s, Foster lane, London,
ob. March 27, 1448; another to John de Walden esq.
with demi-effig\, c. 1360, and a third to Thomas de
Bushbury, canon of Hertford and rector here, ob.
March 29, 1409, with m utilated e ffigy: a stained window
was erected in the south transept in 1873 to the Rev.
W illiam Chambers B.D. 36 years vicar, who died in
i860, and the stained east window to the Rev. Henry
Miller, vicar, 1860-92; the carved oak brackets on the
pulpit and in the chancel were executed by Mr. Heber
H um frey, of Kingstone fa r m : the church was restored
in 1873-8, at a cost of £1,450, and in 1898 a carved
oak chancel screen and choir stalls were erected by the
Rev. C. J. F. Y u le M.A. rector 1892-1900. In 1906
the tower was underpinned and its north-west buttress
rebuilt. The register dates from 1653, and there is
an old parish book with entries from 1602. The living
is a vicarage, net yearly value £180, including 27 acres
of glebe, w ith residence, in the g ift of Magdalen Col­
lege, Oxford, and held since 1904 by the Rev. Laurence
Collingwood Hamerton M.A. of that college. The
ancient name of the benefice was Ashbury St. Marycum-Chapelwick, and there was form erly a chapel, of
which nothing now remains, at the northern boundary
of the parish. There is a small Prim itive Methodist
chapel in the village and a Baptist chapel at Kingstone.
The charities amount to about £ 10 yearly, two-thirds
of which go to the school and the rem ainder for coal.
It is, perhaps, worthy of rem ark that the Rev. Thomas
Stock M.A. Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, to

ASTOX TIR RO LD.

35

which he went from Abingdon School, was a form er
curate of this parish, and originated in 1777 the Sunday
school system of instruction by collecting together the
children of the poor in the chancel of this church and
there givin g them in stru ctio n ; in 1778 he went from
Ashbury to G loucester, where he became acquainted
with Mr. Raikes, whose benevolent efforts in prom oting
and establishing Sunday schools are well known. In
the parish, adjoining Ashdown Park, is a valley con­
taining a large num ber of huge monoliths called
“ Sarsen stones,” probably the indurated rem ains of
a tertiary form ation form erly overlying the chalk. The
remarkable cromlech called “ Wayland Sm ith ’s Cave,”
now m arked by a clum p of trees or circular plantation,
and situated about a mile eastward of the village, has
been more particularly noticed under W antage. The
great battle of JSscendune, or Ashdown, between the
Saxons, under K in g Ethelred and his brother Alfred,
and the Danes, in 871, in which the latter were totally
defeated, was believed by m ost of the old w riters to
have taken place near this village at the western
extrem ity of the Ridgeway, but the best modern
antiquaries concur in fixing the site of the engage­
ment on the hills to the south of Aston Upthorpe, or
between th at point and Cuckham sley H ill (Cw ichelm ’s
hlaewe). Ashdown Park,
m iles south, th e seat of
Evelyn. Countess of Craven, is 103 acres in extent, and
well wooded; the mansion, erected by Webbe, a pupil
of Inigo Jones, is a building of stone. The manor of
A shbury was given by K in g Edred to the monastery
of G laston bury; after the Dissolution it was granted
by Henry V III. to the fam ily of Essex, of whom it was
purchased in 1625 by Sir W illiam Craven, an ancestor
of the Earls of Craven. The Earl of Craven is lord of
the manor and principal landowner. The soil is chalk
and clay; subsoil, rubble and clay. The chief crops
are wheat, beans, barley, turnips and clover. The area
of the entire parish is 5,604 acres of land and 5 Of
w ater; rateable value. £6,830; the population in 1901
was 589, including Ashdown Park.
Kingstone Winslow is a ham let h alf a m ile north-east
Odstone tithing is one m ile north-east.
Idstone is a tithing three-quarters of a mile south­
west.
Sexton, Robert Taylor.
Post, M. 0 . & T. Office.— Robert Pound, sub-postmaster.
Letters arrive from Shrivenham, Berks, at 6.45 a.m . & .
from Swindon 3 p.m. ; dispatched at 1.30 & 6.25 p.m .
week days ; Sundays, 9.30 a.m
W all Letter Box at idstone, cleared week days at 10.201
a.m. & 6.15 p.m. ; sundavs, 10.40 a.m
Elem entary School, erected in 1864, for 170 ch ild ren ;
average attendance, 140; Leonard Austin Darlington,,
master
Police Station, Frank Miles, constable
C arrier'— Albert Partridge, to Swindon, mon. & fri. ;
John Sm ith, of Kingstone, to Swindon, mon. & fri. ;
Geo. Stroud, to Swindon, every week day except wed

P E IV A T E R E SID E N T S .
1Coles John, wheelwright, Idstone
Partridge W illiam , under gardener
to the Countess of Craven
Georg e> carpenter
Craven Evelyn Countess of. A s h - 1
Day Reginald
W,isem
down park
T .
, an,frm r.Fern frm Pound Henry, m iller (water), Upper
to
the
m
ill, Kingstone
Craven Hon. Osbert
W illiam J.P. I Do™ dohn’ , ®tud &room
Pound Robert, baker &c. Post office
Ashdown park
m Co" S tess °f ° ra” n
. . .
,
Hamerton Rev. Laurence Collingwood ® e3> H arnat (M r. ) wardrobe dealer Reeves F. M. (M rs.), farm er, R u f­
Frearson Henry
Henry John,
John, farmer, OdM.A. Vicarage
Frearson
fins wick
stone farm
Richens Joseph (M rs.), shopkeeper
Trower Rev. Cuthbert Fetherstone
Goddard
W
illiam
,
blacksmith
Sm ith John, carrier, Kingstone
M.A. (chaplain), Ashdown park
Hamblin Em ily (Miss), haberdasher Stroud George, carpenter & carrierHolliday Thomas, stonemason
Stroud George (Mrs.), shopkeeper
C O M M ER CIA L.
Inwood Levi, farmer, Odstone
Taylor Robert, carpenter & sexton
Avenell George F. plum ber
Manners W illiam , farmer, Chapel Taylor Thomas S. farm er, Idstone
Ball George, farm bailiff to J. H.
W ick farm
Tillin g James, thatcher
Lawrence esq
Matthews Gilbert, organist & choir - Tucker Edward, farmer, Manor farm
Billings Thomas, head gardener to
master to private chapel & m usic Tucker Henrv, farm er.Kingstone frm
the Countess of Craven
master of choir school, Ashdown pk Vockings Henry, butcher
Bunce W illiam , blacksmith
----------Page John, jobbing gardener
W hite Annie (Mrs.), baker
Garter Thos. Jas. Rose & Crown P.H Parke A. W. F. canine doctor,Idstone ' W illis H v.(M rs.), frm r.Odstone lands
Cole Rd. J. farm er. Berrycroft farm 1Partridge Albert, carrier
W illis Jas. (M rs.).farm er,College frm

A S T O N T IR B .O L D , in Domesday “ Estone,” is a
village and parish 4 miles south-west from Wallingford,
3 west from Moulsford station on the Great Western
railway, 3 miles east from Upton station on the Didcot
and Newbury railway, in the Northern division of the
county, hundred of Moreton, W allingford petty sessional
uldon and county court district, rural deanery
of W allingford, archdeaconry of Berks and diocese of
Oxford. The church of St. Michael is a building of
flint with stone dressings, and appears to have been

originally of Saxon or very E arly Norman d a te : it
consists of chancel, nave of three bays, north aisle,
south transept, south porch and an em battled western
tower containing 5 b e lls : both rood-loft doors rem ain,
but the stairs are walled u p : a modern copy of an
ancient screen stretches across the tower arch, con­
verting the lower stage into a v e stry ; the south door
has a round head, resting on simple jam bs, w ith a
moulded fille t: the porch is Decorated, and was for­
m erly open timbered, but has been plastered u p ; outBERKS.

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