Aston Tirrold, Berkshire
Historical Description
Aston-Tirrold, a parish in Berks, 3 miles W of Cholsey station on the G.W.R., and 4 SW of Wallingford, under which it has a post-office; money order and telegraph office, Cholsey. Acreage, 1753; population, 300. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; value, £200, in the gift of Magdalen College, Oxford. The church is a very ancient building of Saxon origin, of flint with stone dressings. There is also an old Presbyterian chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Aston-Tirrold St. Michael | |
| Hundred | Moreton | |
| Poor Law union | Wallingford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1720.
Churches
Church of England
St. Michael (parish church)
The church of St. Michael is a building of flint with stone dressings, and appears to have been originally of Saxon or very Early Norman date: it consists of chancel, nave of three bays, north aisle, south transept, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells: both rood-loft doors remain, but the stairs are walled up: a modern copy of an ancient screen stretches across the arch, converting the lower stage into a baptistery: the chancel was restored in 1913 in memory of the Rev. Sir John Leigh Hoskyns bart. M.A. rector 1845-1912, to whose memory a new vestry was also erected. The south door has a round head, resting on simple jambs, with a moulded fillet: the porch is Decorated, and was formerly open timbered, but has been plastered up; outside the north aisle is an ancient doorway, possibly Saxon, with plain hollowed corbels, and walled up; within it is a fine stone coffin lid, bearing an elegant but partially mutilated foliaged cross; the priests' door on the south side of the chancel has graceful Early English shafts with foliaged caps: the windows on the south and west of the transepts are Decorated; on the east side are two cusped lancets; the west window is Late Perpendicular; the east window, a Decorated work, with ogee head, is partially filled with stained glass in memory of Mark Robert Taylor esq. of Aston and Blewbury, who died November 8, 1868, and lies buried with Catherine Mason, his wife (d. June 16, 1872), on the south side of the churchyard: there are other tombs in the churchyard to Frances Boyfield, relict of Commodore Sir John Peyton K.C.B., R.N.; to the Herbert family, 1810-72; and to the families of Curtis, Beckinsale, Munday, Lane and Gale: there are 200 sittings.
Presbyterian
Presbyterian chapel
There is a Presbyterian chapel, originally founded for an Independent congregation in 1662: the existing structure is of some antiquity, and has an attached cemetery, well kept and pleasantly shaded with trees; the baptismal records are said to date from 1738.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Aston Tirrold was in Wallingford Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Aston Tirrold from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Aston-Tirrold (St. Michael))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Aston Tirrold 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 Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.