A short history of Aston Upthorpe and Aston Tirrold
Aston Tirrold and Aston Upthorpe are ancient settlements. The Domesday Book described a village called ‘Estone', with ‘two land holdes', and that a 'mansae' of land in Aston Upthorpe was held by Aelfeva at the time of Edward the Confessor. Aston Tirrold was named later, probably after Nicholas Torrold de Aston, or his son Geoffrey, in the twelfth century.
Romans and Anglo-Saxons occupied Blewburton and Lowbury Hills; the Ridgeway and the Icknield Way pass nearby. King Ethelred and Alfred defeated the Danes at the battle of Ashdown in 871.
There was a church on the site of St. Michael's in about 1080. All Saints Church was documented as a chapel-of-ease in 1227, but the nave may be eleventh century. Non-Conformism existed here as early as 1662. There are many old houses, the earliest dating from the thirteenth century.
The Astons are now a friendly and vibrant community of about 600 people. The villages are surrounded by fertile farming land; the soil is loam and lies partly in the upper greensand and partly on the chalk of the downs. The area has varied sources of employment as well as excellent road and rail communications.
