Ashton, Northamptonshire
Historical Description
Ashton, a village and a parish in Northamptonshire, on the Grand Junction Canal, near Salcey Forest and the Blisworth tunnel, 1½ mile SSE of Roade station on the L.&N.W.R., and 7 S of Northampton, which is the post town; money order and telegraph office, Roade. Acreage, 1317; population, 255. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is a building of stone in mixed styles. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Northamptonshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Ashton St. Michael | |
| Hundred | Cleley | |
| Poor Law union | Potterspury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1682.
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with the Northamptonshire Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts for Northamptonshire online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Michael and All Angels (parish church)
The church of St. Michael and All Angels is a building of stone in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and a saddle-backed western tower containing 4 bells: in the north aisle is a raised slab bearing an effigy in chestnut wood of a cross-legged knight, now much decayed, and representing a knight of the le Lou family, who were lords or this place in the 13th and 14th centuries; in the same aisle is an altar tomb of red sandstone, rudely worked, bearing the alabaster effigy of a knight, finely carved but now considerably mutilated: the front of the tomb is divided into panelled compartments, with cusped arches, and round the verge of the upper slab, divided by escutcheons and roses, is an inscription to Sir John de Herteshull, c. 1365; in the north aisle is a brass with effigies in civilian dress, to Robert Marriott, his wife, nine sons and six daughters; beneath the principal figures are twelve rhyming couplets in English: the plates bearing the dates have been removed, but the brass is of the 16th century, c. 1580: the church was restored and reseated during the period 1853-95, at a cost of £700, under the direction of Messrs. Law and Son, architects, of Northampton: in 1897 a new organ and in 1909 an oak altar were added: the church was again restored and reseated in 1911: there are 170 sittings. In 1898 the churchyard was enlarged, and in 1909 a lych gate was erected in commemoration of the Coronation of His Majesty King Edward VII.
Methodist
Wesleyan chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Ashton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ashton (St. Michael))
- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire, 1914
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northamptonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Ashton are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Northamptonshire papers online: