Ashchurch, Gloucestershire
Historical Description
Ashchurch, a village and a parish in Gloucestershire, with a station on the M.R., at the junction of the Malvern and Evesham branches, 2 miles E of Tewkesbury. The parish includes the hamlets of Pamington, Fiddington, Natton, Aston-upon-Carrant, and Northway, and its post town is Tewkesbury. There is a post office at Aston-upon-Carrant, or Aston Cross, under Tewkesbury, the money order office; telegraph office is at Ashchurch railway station. Acreage, 4274; population, 703. There is a mineral spring of similar quality to the waters of Cheltenham. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £176. The church is Perpendicular, with a Norman porch and a pinnacled tower; it contains an ancient carved oak screen. There is a Wesleyan chapel at Aston-upon-Carrant.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Gloucestershire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Ashchurch St. Nicholas | |
| Hundred | Tewkesbury | |
| Poor Law union | Tewkesbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Ashchurch 1555-1837, Gloucestershire is available to browse online.
The register dates from the year 1555.
The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.
Churches
Church of England
St. Nicholas (parish church)
The church of St. Nicholas is an ancient building of stone in the Norman style, with additions mostly of the 14th century, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of six bays. south porch, north aisle and an embattled western tower of the 14th century, with four pinnacles, and containing 6 bells: it has a handsome carved oak screen, with canopy, and some remains of ancient stained glass: in the chancel are five stained windows, and there are memorial windows to the Rev. Charles Holden Steward, d. 1894, Mrs. Steward, d. 1910, and to Col. Henry Gillum-Webb, d. 1904; two brasses in the chancel to Herbert Charles Steward, who died on board the S.S. Malwa in 1877, and to Major-Gen. Atlay C.B., R.A. d. 1895: there are also two ancient brasses in the floor to the Ferrers family, dated 1579, 1583, 1605 and 1636, and a mural monument, with effigy, to William Ferrers, citizen of London, d. 1025: chained to the wall, on a desk, is a large copy of "Foxe's Martyrs:" the church was restored in 1888-9, at a cost of £575, and affords 450 sittings.
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 Ashchurch from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ashchurch (St. Nicholas))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Ashchurch 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 newspapers covering Gloucestershire online:
- Gloucester Citizen
- Gloucester Journal
- Gloucestershire Chronicle
- Gloucestershire Echo
- Cheltenham Chronicle
- Cheltenham Looker-On
Villages, Hamlets, &c
Aston on CarronVisitations Heraldic
The Visitation of the county of Gloucester, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.