Aston Abbotts (also spelled Aston Abbots) is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Aylesbury and 2.5 miles (4 km) south-west of Wing. The parish includes the hamlet of Burston and had a population of 426 at the 2021 Census.
Etymology
The name "Aston" derives from the Old English ēast ("eastern") and tūn ("estate" or "settlement"), meaning "eastern estate." The suffix "Abbotts" refers to the manor's historical ownership by the Abbots of St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire, which held the land from before the Domesday Book until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century.
History
In the time of Edward the Confessor, a Danish chief named Tolf (or Wulf) held the land called "Eastun" and gave it to the Church of St Alban the Martyr. At the Domesday Survey in 1086, "Estone" was assessed at 10 hides and held by the Abbot of St Albans as one manor. The manor remained in the abbey's possession until the Dissolution in 1539, after which it was granted to John Lord Russell and subsequently alienated to Sir Robert Dormer.
The present house called The Abbey was largely built in the late 18th century and altered in the early 19th century. It was once the country home of the abbots of St Albans.
Parish Church
The Church of England parish church of St James the Great features a late 15th- or early 16th-century Perpendicular Gothic west tower. The remainder of the building was demolished in 1865 and replaced with a new nave and chancel designed by the Oxford Diocesan Architect G.E. Street, completed in 1866. The church is a Grade II* listed building. The tower contains a ring of six bells, with the oldest cast in 1652 by Anthony Chandler of Drayton Parslow.
The polar explorer Sir James Clark Ross, discoverer of the North Magnetic Pole in 1831, is buried in the churchyard.
Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile
During the Second World War, from 1940 to 1945, Dr Edvard Beneš, the exiled President of Czechoslovakia, stayed at The Abbey in Aston Abbotts. His chancellery staff stayed in nearby Wingrave, and his military intelligence staff stayed at Addington. President Beneš gave a bus shelter to the villages of Aston Abbotts and Wingrave in 1944, which still stands on the A418 road between the two villages.
Amenities
The village historically had two public houses: "The Bull & Butcher" (closed for conversion to flats in 2003) and the "Royal Oak" (closed since the COVID-19 pandemic). The village shop closed in 2005. The nearest shop, post office, and school are located in the neighbouring village of Wingrave. The village has a recreation ground, a village hall, and a village green. Aston Abbotts won Buckinghamshire's Best Kept Village (under 500 residents) in 2019 and was awarded the Best Kept Village Tindal Cup in 2022.
