Aston Clinton is a historic 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 authorit ...

in the Vale of Aylesbury in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, England. The village lies at the foot of the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshi ...

, between the Wendover and Aylesbury arms of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

. Surrounding towns include Wendover to the south,

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

to the west, and Tring to the east - across the nearby county border with

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

History

It is believed that the village started at the crossing of two Roman roads, Akeman Street and Icknield Way, both of which are still main roads in the village. After the fall of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, it became a

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 ...

settlement and remains of a Saxon cemetery were found during the construction of the Aston Clinton Bypass. Before the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conqu ...

in 1066 the settlement was probably held under patronage of King

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æt ...

. The village is recorded 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 where in

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 settlers in the mid-5th ...

it was called ''Estone'', which means "eastern estate". The manor, later to be known as Aston Clinton, was for a short period after 1100 under the control of

Edward de Salisbury Edward of Salisbury was a nobleman and courtier (''curialis''), probably part Anglo-Saxon, who served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire during the reigns of William I, William II and Henry I. The '' Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis'' (1293) names him ...

, who was King Henry I's standard-bearer. In 1217 King Henry III gave it to Sir William de Farendon. However, by 1237 the manor was owned by the de Clinton family, hence the name at that time of ''Aston de Clinton''. William de Clinton separated out from Aston Clinton to a new manor called Chivery as a dowry for his daughter Alice. Sometime after 1239,

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

granted the estates to the Montacutes, who were the ancestors of the Earls of Salisbury. Their descendant the Countess of Salisbury was beheaded by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

in 1541. Successive families have owned the manor, passing by marriage from the Hastings to the Barringtons, Gerards, and then to Lord Lake of Aston Clinton later to become

Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India. Background He w ...

. On 22 September 1934, a twin-engined biplane named ''Youth of New Zealand'' of Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Displays, crashed into a field near the canal at Aston Clinton. The ''Youth of New Zealand'' had just departed from Heston Aerodrome after being refuelled when it crashed, killing all four crew. The probable cause was the failure of a bolt through metal fatigue. The car manufacturer

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated wi ...

took one part of its name from the nearby Aston Hill combining it with that of its co-founder Lionel Martin. The firm had great success in the

Aston Clinton Hillclimb Aston Hill Climb (not "Aston Clinton Hillclimb") was a speed hill climb on public roads up Aston Hill near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire which was active from 1904 until 1925. The hill's enduring claim to fame came when Lionel Martin and his p ...

competition up nearby Aston Hill. A plaque now marks the site. The modern parish of Aston Clinton was created in 1934. Of the other

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

manors:- Dundridge; Chivery; St Leonards and Vaches, historically all closely associated with Aston Clinton, only Chivery and Vaches have remained distinct parts of Aston Clinton, which now forms part of Aylesbury Vale District. Dundridge manor became part of the ecclesiastical parish of St Leonards which has itself since 1934 become part of the parish of

Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards is a civil parish in the Chiltern district of the English county of Buckinghamshire. It lies in the Chiltern Hills just to the north of Chesham, on the boundary with Hertfordshire. It comprises the hamlet of Buckland ...

The village today

There are many historic buildings with listed status in Aston Clinton including Anthony Hall, a concert hall situated in the centre of the village which was donated to the community by the widow of

Anthony Nathan de Rothschild Sir Anthony Nathan de Rothschild, 1st Baronet (29 May 1810 – 3 January 1876) was a British financier and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England. Early life Born in New Court, St Swithin's Lane, in the City of London ...

. To the south-east of the village in Green Park was the former Aston Clinton House. The village also contains St. Michael and All Angels parish church, dating from the late medieval period. The village was used as a filming location for the 1962 film ''

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Hum ...

''. The TV programme '' Hotel Babylon'' was filmed in Aston Clinton. Aston Clinton Household Recycling Centre opened in 2009 and was built to the north of the village off the A41 Aston Clinton bypass. In 2011 a new industrial park opened in Aston Clinton called Halton Brook Business Park, designed and developed by Horstonbridge Development Management which replaced an old dairy, demolished in 2006, that once stood in the same location. Two companies currently occupy Halton Brook, Zethon & DeSoutter Medical.

Notable residents

Composer and lutenist Daniel Bacheler was born in the village in 1572. The BAFTA and Oscar winning special effects make-up artist

David Malinowski David Malinowski is a BAFTA and Oscar winning special effects make-up artist. He started his career in 1996 and spent 10 years working for Madame Tussauds in London, then left to pursue his career in film and television. At the 2018 BAFTA Film Awar ...

lives in the village. Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber lists Aston Clinton as his home in England where he lives with his partner Ann Neal.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census there were 1,518 households in Aston Clinton with a Population of 3,682: 1,784 males and 1,898 females. In accordance with the government plans to boost housing supply, due to the rising population, there has been an increase in new housing developments in Aston Clinton: The Burnhams (19 dwellings), Stratford Close (20 dwellings), 28 flats near the surgery, four detached houses to the south of London Road Pavilion Gardens (14 dwellings) and The Willows (three large detached houses).

Geography

Aston Clinton is located at the northern edge of the

, Buckinghamshire, to the east of Aylesbury. Aston Clinton Civil Parish is bordered by other civil parishes to the: *North by: Bierton with Broughton, Hulcott ( Bucks) & Tring Rural ( Herts) *East by: Buckland ( Bucks) *South by:

& Wendover ( Bucks) *West by: Halton &

Weston Turville Weston Turville is a historic village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The village is at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, 3 miles (4.9 km) from the market town of Wendover and 3.5 miles (5.7 km) fr ...

( Bucks)

Transport

Historically, the A41 passed through Aston Clinton. A bypass was built around the north of the village, it was opened on the 3 October 2003. The village lies on several bus routes, with direct services to Aylesbury, Watford, Leighton Buzzard and Dunstable.

Education

Aston Clinton School is a combined primary school located in the village. The school badge bears resemblance to the

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...

coat of arms, since the family built the first schools in the village.

References

External links

British History Online – The parishes of Aylesbury hundred: Aston ClintonBritish History Online – Aston Clinton

Domesday Book - Aston ClintonAston Clinton School

St Michael and All Angels Church

Aston Clinton Baptist Church

Aston Park Tennis Club

Aston Clinton Bowls Club

Saxon remains found in 2001 when the bypass was being built.
{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England