England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Aston Abbotts St James

The Parish

The parish of Aston Abbotts lies in central Buckinghamshire about 5 miles northeast of the town of Aylesbury. Aston Abbotts is a mid-sized village which sits a little over a half mile west of the A418 road which connects Aylesbury with the Bedfordshire town of Leighton Buzzard. Aston Abotts is a compact village built around a triangular arrangement of lanes with properties lining each spur. Aston Abbotts lies on fairly heavy clay soils and the farming would have been, by necessity in those times, largely pastoral, the village being noted as a producer of fine butter, today with heavy machinery arable dominates. The village women were also noted for their industry in the production of lace and straw plait. Aston Abbotts sits upon a significant watershed, streams draining eastwards run towards Leighton Buzzard and the River Ouzel, thence to the Great Ouse and the North Sea through the Wash, streams heading westwards reach the River Thame and thence the Thames through the capital again to the North Sea. Aston Abbotts sits atop a high point for its area at around 130 metres above the sea, the highest point until one reaches the Chiltern escarpment several miles to the south. Aston Abbotts parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering just over 2,100 acres it would have supported close to 350 parishioners. In Domesday times Aston Abbotts was held by St Albans Abbey and was also a mid-sized place offering 12 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St James' church sits on the northern edge of the village on the western side of the lane leading towards Cublington. Sadly much of this current building would not have been here at the time of these marriages. The church was almost completely rebuilt anew in the 1860 leaving only the lowest stages of the western tower, a 15th century Perpendicular relic, from the preexisting medieval building. Whilst the replacement church is competent and exhibits the Decorated style in its window tracery, perhaps a nod towards an earlier style, the church clearly did not impress Pevsner whose description is limited to just 4 lines of work. His summation of the church as "competent" is perhaps reflective of his lack of intrigue. The Cublington Road is fairly narrow so parking should be careful, the church has a low brick wall surround with gates at the southern end of an open and uncluttered churchyard with no obstacles to photography.