Cold Aston (also known as Aston Blank) is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, England, approximately to the east of
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
.
It lies in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
, an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
. In the
2011 census, the population was 255.
History
Toponymy
The village was recorded as ''Eastunæ'' between 716–43.
It was listed in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 as ''Estone'', the name coming from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''ēast'' + ''tūn'' meaning "eastern farmstead or estate".
By the mid 13th century, the village was known as ''Cold Aston''.
It was occasionally called ''Great Aston'', to distinguish it from the nearby
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
of Little Aston.
From the 16th century, the name ''Aston Blank'' took hold, the suffix "Blank" possibly deriving from the
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
word ''blanc'', meaning "white" or "bare".
In 1972, the parish officially became known as ''Cold Aston'' again. Some think that the name "cold" is derived from the Saxon word which refers to a former settlement – in this case, probably referring to a disused Roman camp or rest place for use when travelling the Fosse Way. It is fairly certain, contrary to common modern thinking, that the word "Cold" has no link to a meteorological reference.
Governance
Cold Aston is part of the Bourton-on-the-Water
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
Cotswold
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...
, represented by
Councillor
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
s Sheila Jeffery and Len Wilkins, and by Charles Alfred Richard Gillams, all members of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. Cold Aston is part of the
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
of
Cotswold
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...
, represented at
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
by Conservative
MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Sir Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (born 23 March 1953)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 538 is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Th ...
. It was part of the
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...
constituency of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
prior to
Britain leaving the European Union
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC o ...
in January 2020.
Geography
Cold Aston is in the county of Gloucestershire and lies within the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
, a range of hills designated an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
. It is approximately to the east of Gloucester. It is approximately east of its
post town
A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...
Cheltenham and about west of
Bourton-on-the-Water
Bourton-on-the-Water is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, that lies on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village had a population of 3,296 at the 2011 census. Much of the village ...
. Nearby villages include
Turkdean
Turkdean is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, approximately to the east of Gloucester. It lies in the Cotswolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
History
Turkdean was recorded as ''Turcandene'' in the 8th century an ...
,
Notgrove,
Clapton,
Naunton
Naunton is a village in Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the River Windrush in the Cotswolds, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Stow-on-the-Wold is about 6 miles to the east.
Community
The population of Naunton in 2000 was 371, whic ...
and
Lower Slaughter
Lower Slaughter is a village in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, south west of Stow-on-the-Wold.
The village is built on both banks of the River Eye, a slow-moving stream crossed by two footbridges, which also flows through ...
.
The ancient parish of Cold Ashton contained and was roughly square in shape, in 1987 the parish was enlarged.
[Carol Davidson Cragoe, A R J Jurica and Elizabeth Williamson, 'Parishes: Cold Aston', in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 9, Bradley Hundred. The Northleach Area of the Cotswolds, ed. N M Herbert (London, 2001), pp. 9-20]
British History Online
Landmarks
![ColdAstonChurch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/ColdAstonChurch.jpg)
The
Church of St Andrew is the
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
. It is a largely
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
building, though its walls incorporate
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
stonework and the original church on this site may have been built in around AD 904.
A leading modern authority refers approvingly to the "very good" west tower of three stages and other
Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
elements of the church, commenting, "All is evidently the work of the best Cotswold masons, and is the fifteenth-century aggrandizement of a Norman church". Much of the present church was
restored
''Restored'' is the fourth
studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard ...
in 1875.
The village pub, The Plough, is a 17th-century Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
It is the only pub between the three villages of Cold Aston, Turkdean and Notgrove in May 2013 re-opened after an extensive refurbishment. It now also offers accommodation. The pub's landlord claims that it is residence to a
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
named Old Harry.
Education
The village has one
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
, Cold Aston Church of England Primary School, a
voluntary controlled school
A voluntary controlled school (VC school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a Christian denomination) has some formal influence in the running of the school. Such schools have less autonomy than ...
for children from the age of 4–11. In 2019, the school had 87 pupils.
References
External links
Official village site*
{{authority control
Villages in Gloucestershire
Cotswold District