Aston
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Aston, a common name, usually ‘eastern farmstead or estate’, Estone 1086 (Domesday Book).Source"Aston" A Dictionary of British Place-Names. A. D. Mills. Oxford University Press, 2003.
Aston is near the Derbyshire border and has collieries close by, but it keeps its rural charm, with a fine little church - All Saints, at a green corner where the great house stands in a hundred acres of wood land. There are still a few stones of the older house where lived Archbishop Melton who fought the Scots, restored William Masons tomb in the Minster, and died six centuries ago.
The oldest work is in the nave arcades, built by the last of the Normans, one pointed arch showing the English style. The south aisle is two centuries later, the north aisle is made largely new, and the tower is 15th century. The weathered porch has an angel carved on a niche, and guarding the windows of the south aisle are demons and grotesques. There are shields in old glass, an old stone altar, and a fine 15th century font remarkable for two quaint carvings at the base, a fierce-looking man with a spear and an angel with a scroll.
Henry Bate, MA., was instituted to the Rectory of Aston 17 Oct., 1605. He married in 1607, Ellen Hardstaff of Aston. He died on 7th September, 1627
There is a monument of Sir Francis Fane of 1680, and another to Lord Darcy whose widow Sir Francis married. It shows the baron in a fine doublet, kneeling with his first three wives.
One of the rectors here was William Mason, mentioned above, whose 43 years’ service ended with his death in 1797. He had been presented to this living by his patron, the Earl of Holderness, soon after he came into holy orders.
In the church is a marble tablet erected to his memory by the Rev. C. Alderson, his successor; and in a summer house in the rectory garden, on the ceiling, is an embossed medallion, containing the profiles of himself and his friend Thomas Gray, and on the floor stood two urns and pedastals inscribed to Gray and Mason. This garden and grounds are contiguous to the rectory, it was Mason who built the big square rectory and planned the garden in the style he advocated in his book, The English Garden
In the vestry is a copy of a poem he wrote when six years old. The most notable thing he ever did was to give us a life of his best friend, Thomas Gray, who often came to stay with him here. Gray called him Scroddles, and the two loved to sit in the summer house.
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In the early 1820's, Aston was, a parish-town in the upper division of Strafforth and Tickhill; the seats of Harry Verelst, Esq. (1773-1837) and the Rev. William Alderson, a Magistrate for the Sheffield area .The population, including Aughton was 556, which being united, form a township. The Church is a rectory, dedicated to All-Saints, in the deanry of Doncaster, value £12. 15s. 2½d. Patron, the Duke of Leeds.
Within a few hundred yards of the church, and once surrounded by a park, stood Aston Hall, the ancient residence of the Darcy's. The present mansion was erected on the ancient site, being built in 1772 by famous York architect, John Carr, for the 4th Earl of Holderness . Not long after completion, the earl sold it to a former Governor of Bengal, Henry Verelst, son of Lionel Darell and Isabella. In 1948 it was purchased by Rotherham Council for use as a Mental Hospital. After many years as Aughton Court Hospital it is now a luxury hotel - The Aston Hall Hotel.The Hall reception area still houses the original mosaic floor.
In the church are effigies in marble, of John, Lord D'Arcy and Mennil, and his three wives.
Orchard and Poplar Cottages situated on Worksop Road contain two bays of a timber framed house, late 16th/early 17th century.
The Population Census in 1821 for Aston with Aughton included part of Ulley in 1811, the whole of which was later attributed to Treeton Parish.
Hardwick was a farm-house in the township of Aston with Aughton, and parish of Aston.
The Aston Estate, comprising Aston Hall, 11 farms and the whole of the villages of Aston and Netherthorpe, were sold by auction at the Blue Bell Inn, Aston on 29 March 1928. The remaining portion of the Aston Estate, comprising 4 farms was sold at auction at the Blue Bell Inn, 6 December 1928 an another auction took place at the Blue Bell Inn, on 20 February 1930
Netherthorpe was a hamlet in the township of Aston with Aughton, and parish of Aston
Swallow Nest was in the parish of Aston
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Aston, Lodge Lane 1950
Reproduced courtesy of The Francis Frith Collection.
Aston is situated 5 miles to the south of Rotherham, close to junction 31 of the M1.
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