A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



HUNDRED OF AYLESBURY 



ASTON CLINTON 



Estone, xi cent. ; Aston, Eston, xiii cent. ; Aston 

 Clynton, xiv cent. 



Aston Clinton is a large parish, very long and 

 narrow in shape, lying on the northern slopes of the 

 Chiltern Hills. The highest point, 8 1 7 ft. above 

 the Ordnance datum, 1 is near the most northerly of 

 the two Chiverey Farms. The hamlet of St. Leonards 

 in the extreme south-east corner of the parish lies 

 over 700 ft. above the Ordnance datum, but the 

 village of Aston Clinton and a large part of the parish 

 lies in the Vale of Aylesbury, its height varying from 

 200 ft. to 300 ft.' The subsoil is Upper Greensand 

 and Gault and the surface stiff loam.* The popula- 

 tion is mainly occupied in agriculture, and the parish 

 contains 1,257^ acres of arable land 4 and 1,621^ 

 of permanent grass. The parish is not well timbered 

 except at the Park and about the village. Straw- 

 plaiting used to be an important industry in the 

 village, but there is now but little demand for the 

 plait and the industry is gradually dying out. The 

 Aylesbury branch of the Grand Junction Canal passes 

 through the parish, along the south-east boundary of 

 Aston Clinton Park, where there is a spring of water 

 and an ornamental lake. One of the many streams 

 that water the Vale flows through the north of the 

 parish and forms the moat at Vaches or Vatches 

 Farm. Another branch of the Grand Junction Canal 

 crosses the parish, but is now disused. 



In the Chiltern Hills the Chiltern Hills Water 

 Company has its waterworks, and there is a large 

 reservoir near Aston Hill. The high road from 

 Aylesbury to Tring, following the course of Akeman 

 Street, runs through the parish and forms the main 

 street of the village of Aston Clinton, the houses being 

 mostly modern. The Lower Icknield Way runs 

 from Weston Turville to the village and the Upper 

 Icknield Way also crosses the parish ; a branch road 

 connecting with Akeman Street and the Upper Ick- 

 nield Way runs south-east through the length of the 

 parish, by St. Leonards hamlet nd on to Choles- 

 bury. No line of railway passes through the parish, 

 and the nearest station is 3^ miles away at Stoke 

 Mandeville on the Metropolitan Extension Railway. 

 The common fields of Aston Clinton were inclosed 

 by Act of Parliament, the award being dated 14 No- 

 vember 1 8 1 6. J There is a common to the north of 

 the hamlet of St. Leonards. A few houses, two 

 farms and an inn form the hamlet of Chiverey, pre- 

 serving the name of an ancient manorial division of 

 Aston Clinton. Various archaeological discoveries 

 have been made in the parish ; miscellaneous neolithic 

 instruments have been dug up as well as late Celtic 



CLINTON. Argent six 

 crmsleti fitchy sable and 

 a chief azure "with fwo 

 pierced moleti or therein. 



pottery and a Roman amphora. Aston Clinton 

 House, the only house of importance in the parish, 

 the residence of the Dowager Lady de Rothschild' 

 is modern, and is surrounded by finely-timbered 

 grounds. The church stands on the edge of the Park 

 in an ample churchyard at the entrance to which is 

 a counterpoise lichgate. 



Before the Norman Conquest, the 

 MANORS manor of 4STON CLINTON wa 

 held by Wlwen, a ' man ' of King 

 Edward. 6 Wlwen is a woman's name, and she 

 seems to have been the predecessor of Edward de 

 Salisbury, the Domesday ten- 

 ant, in all his lands in Buck- 

 inghamshire. 7 He was the 

 standard-bearer of Henry I 

 at the battle of Brenville in 

 1 1 oo," and was made Earl of 

 Salisbury.' Whether he alien- 

 ated it during his lifetime or 

 whether it descended to his 

 heir Walter de Salisbury does 

 not appear, but at the end of 

 the 1 2th century it belonged 

 to the family of Clinton, who 

 held it by grand serjeanty. In 

 1193 and 1 194 William de Clinton rendered account 

 of 10 marks for having seisin of his land at Aston 1 * 

 until the king's return to England, so that he was 

 probably waiting to do homage to the king for lands 

 of inheritance. In this case they had been held pre- 

 sumably by his father Jordan de Clinton." William 

 died before 1 196," and the sheriff of the county ren- 

 dered account for his lands in Aston. In 1 200 King 

 John granted to Hugh de Haversham the custody of 

 his lands and heir and the marriage of the heir," but 

 the next year this was cancelled, since Isabella de 

 Clinton gave 300 marks for the same privileges." 

 She answered for Aston for several years, and was pro- 

 bably the widow of William de Clinton." His heir 

 was his son, another William de Clinton," who is 

 mentioned in a list of tenants in chief in 121012." 

 In 1216, however, the manor was in the hands of 

 the king," although Isabella was still alive, and while 

 William de Clinton was still a minor." The manor 

 of Aston was granted in that year by King John to 

 Walerand Teutonicus for the support of the castle of 

 Berkhampstead." Before 1219 William de Clinton 

 appears to have come of age and obtained possession 

 of Aston." His name appears for the last time in 

 1 228," and the next tenant of the manor seems to 

 have been Nicia de Clinton, who was holding it in 



1 Ord. Surv. Ibid. 



V.C.H. Bucks, i, Geological Map. 



4 Inf. supplied by Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



5 Com. Intl. Award. 



V.C.H. Bucks, i, 263*. 7 Ibid. 

 8 Orderic Vitalit, Hist. Eul. (ed. 



Migne), pt. iii, bk. 12. 



G.E.C. Complete Peerage. 



10 Pipe R. 5 Ric. I, m. 1 1 d. 



11 Curia Regis R. 71, m. 23 d. 

 " Pipe R. 8 Ric. I, m. 17. 



18 Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), 50* ; Rot. de 

 Obltt. et Fin. (Rec. Com.), 61. 

 11 Ibid. 173. 



Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Sen), 137. 

 18 Curia Regis R. 71, m. 23 d. 



312 



" Red Bk. of Excb. (Rolls Ser.), 537. 

 18 Maitland, Bracttn's Note Bk. case 



"373- 



"'Rot. Lit. Clans (Rec. Com.), i, 286. 



Ibid. 



M Curia Regis R. 71, m. 23 d. Feet 

 of F. Bucks. 6 Hen. Ill, nos. 2-5. 



M Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. case 283. 



