North Aston ~ A Millennium
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North Aston - A Millennium extends to almost 200 pages, and covers not only the history of the village, in chronological sequence, but also includes chapters of personal reminiscences stretching back a century or more. Towards the back of the book is a section that features reproductions of early maps of the parish as well as records of the natural history of the area, footpaths, notes on ancient field names and genealogical reference.

Chapter or Section

The Domesday Book of 1086

A History of North Aston

In the Beginning (Prehistory, the Roman occupation and the arrival of the Normans)
Taking Shape (A village is established)
Middle Age (Disease, war and famine in medieval times)
Things that go Bump in the Night (The first recorded poltergeist in England)
Interesting Times (The first ‘Golden Age’)
Shaping the Future (Revolution in the fields, and across the land)
Progress and Poverty (The ‘outside world’ begins to encroach)
Musical Associations (Bernard Gates of North Aston and Handel)
Dr T. S. Dupuis (Organist to the Chapel Royal)
A Centre for the Arts and Science (The arrival of the Bowles family)
Changing the Face of Agriculture (Reforms and new ideas)
Oldfield Bowles Remembered (Extracts from the diary of Joseph Farington RA)
The Canker in the Rose (A tainted source of wealth)
All Bowled Out (The link with the Bowles family finally ends)
Jackson’s Oxford Journal (Extracts from the 18th century)
Swing Time (The Captain and his riots)
Making Census of the Past (The 1851 Census of Oxfordshire)
A Thirst for Learning (Recreation and schooling in a rural community)
Goodbye Bowles, Hello Foster-Melliar (A new name bears influence on the village)
John Dove (Editor of the ‘Round Table’ Commonwealth review)
N
orth Aston for Sale (The estate comes under the hammer)
Into the Twentieth Century

Lords of the Manor (A listing from 1086 to the present day)

The Church of St. Mary (A description of North Aston church)

North Aston Clergy (A listing of Vicars from 1228 to the present day)
Notes on the Bells (A ring of six)
Roll of Honour1914-18 (Those of the parish who gave their lives)
Serving in HM Forces 1939-1945 (Residents of the village who fought in WW2)

The Way we Were (Old photographs of North Aston)

The School, The Hall, The Manor House, The Village and Post Office

The Fox (The earliest surviving farmhouse and a former inn)
The Fountain (The Gift of William Foster-Melliar in 1863)
The Old Bakery and The Pavilion (Social gatherings arise from enterprise)
The North Aston Cricket Club (One hundred years of village cricket)

The North Aston News (Excerpts from past issues of the village newsletter)

Lower House, Soldiers on the Land, May Day, Oldest and Youngest, Good
Women and Civil Defence, Coronation Day 1953, Tom West (1901-1990),
The Travelling Taylors, Somerton Road, The Gardners.
Recollections of Life in North Aston

Personal Memories

That’s Going Back a Bit (Reminiscences from Ted Short)
The Sykes Family of Dane Hill (Les Sykes recounts a family history)
A Vanished World (Memories of North Aston by Phoebe Hichens / Pearce)
Growing up in North Aston (The recollections of Norman West)
In Conversation (Joyce Morley and Mary Hoare with Stephen Rees)
North Aston in the 1920s (Ivy Bowen recalls life eighty years ago)
Percy Short and Will ‘Curly’ Whitehead (Remembered by Deirdre Oakley)

An Industrial Heritage (Compiled by Lucy Bolton and Ron Knight)
Lucy Bolton Recalls (Personal recollections)
The Colonel’s Escape (Evading the Germans, Summer 1940)
Colonel Anthony Donnithorne Taylor (“ADT”, who died in 1985)
Jeremy Taylor, in Conversation (with Stephen Rees)
The Second World War and After (Mark Hichens and The Hall)
Three Score Years and Then . . . (Clive Busby, farm manager)

The North Aston Siege (July 1978, compiled by Marcus Potts)
Recalling the Siege (with Jane Durnin and Stephen Rees)
Breadfruit Bligh (North Aston’s links with a mutinous past)
Locomotive 7917 (A village in steam)

Nature Notes

The Natural History of North Aston (Ron Knight and Brian Hall)
Birds (1963-1966 and 2000 survey results compiled by Ron Knight and Brian Hall)
Plant Species of North Aston (James Greenwood)

Maps and References

Aerial photograph of the village, circa 1970
North Aston footpaths (based upon OCC definitive listing, 1999)
Field Names in the Parish of North Aston
The Heart of the Village, circa 1907
The North Aston Golf Course

Index (including some genealogical information)

Sources, bibliography, acknowledgements and thanks

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