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MINUTES OF PARISHIONERS MEETING

ch-off   April 2005

History

The church is an ancient and beautiful building, but, more importantly, it is the focal point of a living Christian community which meets there week by week, year after year for worship and prayer as it has done for about a thousand years.

The earliest written evidence of the church in Aston is in the Domesday Survey of 1086.  Very Little survives, from this period and the present building is the result of alterations and additions during the following 900 years, although the main fabric of the building has remained virtually unchanged since the 141h century.

Interesting Features

Looking first at the outside of the church, there is a fragment of a Saxon stone cross built into the west wall of the north aisle.  This was probably a preaching cross which was on the site of the present church.  The lowest few courses of stone-work at the bottom of the tower and also the lower levels of the interior pillars are also Saxon.

Above the lower courses, the next stage of the tower is Early Norman.  Here the typical rounded Norman windows and interior arch are from this period.  It was later raised to its present height of 62 ft (or 19 m)

The main building of the central part of the nave dates from the 13' century with the clerestory (upper windows) probably added when the roof was lowered from its original high pitched style.  The original roof line can be seen on the wall of the tower, at the back of the nave.  The church was enlarged by the construction of the south aisle about 1330 and is in the Decorated style.  The north aisle was added later, in about 1355 by which time the architectural style had changed to Perpendicular. The chancel was also added during the 14th century and has three unusually tall, two-light windows dating from 1366 - 1377.  A further feature of the chancel is the remains of the low window behind the choir stalls on the south side.  This is thought to be either a squint window or was originally shuttered so that the consecration bell could be rung outside and heard in the village and fields.  The east window is Early English style.  There are marks which may have been caused by the sharpening of arrows near the yew trees on the lower part of the east wall of the south isle.

Inside the church, the altar table dates from 1630.

The tomb in the north aisle is thought to have been erected in memory of Thomas and Alice Hunt who formally held Aston Hall before the advent of the Holden family.  Note the husband and wife are depicted holding hands and have their dogs at their feet.  These were mutilated during the puritan period.  The tomb is made of local alabaster and probably dates from the 15th century.  Of note are the scallop shells in the decoration.  People who had made the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Bouzas in Portugal were privileged to wear a scallop shell so maybe this indicates that the Hunt family had done this.

Many of the pews date from the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth and would have been made by a village craftsman.  Notice the holes in the tops of the pew-ends where worshippers could place their candle or taper.

The spiral staircase which originally led to a rood loft or screen, possibly used by musicians.

The font is ancient and is unusual in the fact that it has a piece of stone cut out from it to allow worshippers to touch the water inside when the lid is in position.  This feature is rarely found in English churches

There are some slight remains of wall painting on the walls above the chancel arch, which have been long-since removed.  The interior of the church was restored and renovated during the 19^th century by the Holden family from Aston Hall.  A number of the memorials, together with the reredos behind the altar, the pulpit, most of the stained glass and the choir stalls date from that period.

There are six bells, the oldest ones of which dates from the 17' century.

The lych gate was erected to the memory of James Holden, a former Rector, who died in 1916.

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