Aston, Hertfordshire

Aston is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 844, increasing to 871 at the 2011 Census. Located in Hertfordshire on a ridge between the new-town of Stevenage and the Beane Valley, the village of Aston is just 10 minutes drive from the A1(M).

A mile north of Aston lies Aston End, a hamlet which has strong social and geophysical ties with the village. Hooks Cross, another hamlet in the Parish, straddles the A602, Stevenage to Hertford road. Aston is known locally for its conviviality and, despite its modest size, has a great many clubs, societies and interest groups as well as hosting a very successful annual school fete. During the reign of Edward the Confessor (1024–66), the manor (i.e. the land) of "Estone" was held by three vassals of Stigend, Archbishop of Canterbury. Their names are not known but some land is recorded as that of Wulf the Dane.

By the time Domesday Book was completed (1086), the small community of Estone, now Aston, was made up of about twenty-five families and included a priest. So it seems that there was a church at that time and it was almost certainly on the site of the present Aston St Mary's.

King William I gave 185 manors, including that of Estone, to his ruthless and ambitious half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Odo's deceptions, and his burning aspiration to become Pope, so offended the King that he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. His treasures and estates, including Estone, reverted to the Crown

The manor, now in Royal possession, was presented by King Henry I in dower to his second wife, eighteen-year-old Adelicia, upon their marriage in 1121.

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