Aston is a residential village in the

Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its main settlement of Rotherham. The wider borough spans a larger area and covers the outlying towns of Maltby, Swinton, Wath-upo ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England. The village falls within the Holderness ward of the borough. Aston is approximately from Rother Valley Country Park.

History

Aston was traditionally a farming village and some old farm buildings still line the main road. In the early 20th century the population increased because of the opening of

coal mines Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

in the area. It joined local villages Aughton and Swallownest, to form the Aston cum Aughton civil parish.

Etymology

Unlike other places of the same name, Aston does not mean "eastern farm or village," but instead originates from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

words ''tun'' "

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

, village, and estate" with an uncertain first element. The name was recorded as ''Essetone'' (which was first documented in the Domesday Book) in 1039, suggesting

''ǣsc'' "

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some subtropical species are evergr ...

" (as in Ashton and Ashton-in-Makerfield), although this is not certain.

Landmarks

Aston Hall

At the eastern end of the village is Grade II* listed Aston Hall which was a large country house, afterwards a hospital, and at one time known as Aughton Court before becoming a hotel and restaurant. It gives its name to Aston Hall Cricket Club, which plays home games close to the Hall. A nearby street named "The Chase" suggests that the surrounding housing estate now occupies land that formed the traditional hunting grounds attached to the hall.

Church of All Saints

Adjacent to Aston Hall is the oldest surviving structure in the village, the Grade I listed Church of All Saints. It is built on the site of earlier church 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'', and parts of it date to 12th, 14th and 15th centuries though with restoration works including rebuilding of the chancel in the 19th century. Monuments in the church include two wall plaques to

William Mason William, Willie, or Willy Mason may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Mason (poet) (1724–1797), English poet, editor and gardener *William Mason (architect) (1810–1897), New Zealand architect *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), Ame ...

a former rector of the church. The old rectory building on Church Lane was also worked on by John Carr, it is named High Trees and is Grade II listed as are a number of other 18th and early 19th century buildings along the main road (Worksop Road) including The Grange and South Farm. To the north of these on Aughton Lane is the William Layne Reading Room, a building that was formally Aston Old School, founded in 1738, next to which stands a war memorial erected in 2011.

Education

Aston Academy is the local high school, specialising in mathematics and computing. Most pupils come from the Aston-cum-Aughton area, with others from nearby villages such as Beighton, Woodhouse and Treeton. Local primary schools are: * Aston C of E (Church of England) * Aston Hall Primary * Aston Lodge Primary * Aston Springwood Junior & Infant School * Swallownest Primary * Aughton Primary * Aston Fence Junior & Infant

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in South Yorkshire Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham