Please use this page to add any comments, news or information you’d like to add to the website. We’ll try to get back to you as quickly as possible!
Thank You!
Please use this page to add any comments, news or information you’d like to add to the website. We’ll try to get back to you as quickly as possible!
Thank You!
The village website seems to have no explanation of, or comment on, the vilage’s unusual name. There are many villages called ‘Aston’ this or that (the nearest perhaps being North Aston) but what is the meaning of ‘le Walls’? Is it the family name of one time squires or landowners, possibly of Norman origin? If so, who were they and what happened to them? Or is the reference to some structure or boundary – if so, what was it and what happened to it? Or is there some other explanation? The church website offers no clue. It would be interesting to be told and for the answer to be shown on the village website.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your interesting comment. In ‘Spires and Squires’ by Derek F Blunt, it says that in the Domesday Book the name was Estone, indicating that this was east farm: He says “The unusual addition can be dated back to Tudor times and refers to the existence of an old Roman Vallum, an earth made defensive embankment which once ran some twenty miles from here to Kirklington in Oxfordshire.”
Other people have expressed an interest in the history of this village, so I will hopefully create a page with as much history as I can find! It would also be great to include any memories from village residents of times past.
Sue
Village names often refer to the location of the village in context of the landscape.
‘Eastern farm/settlement’. ‘The Walls’ refers to local earthworks likely to be an ancient line of vallum (earthwork or wall) that stretches from Kirtlington to Aston Le Walls. Which was used as a boundary between the pre-Roman tribes, the Dobunii to the west and Catuvellauni to the east.
Elements and their meanings
east (Old English) Eastern, east (I’ve also read that Aston can refer to a village with noteworthy Ash trees)
tun (Old English) An enclosure; a farmstead; a village; an estate.
wall (Anglian) A wall.”
Hello,
Under the current circumstances, would it be a good time to set up a contact list of willing volunteers to do shopping, pick up prescriptions etc for anyone who needs to, or is forced to self isolate? I am very happy to be on such a list.
Jo Wilson
Thank you Jo, that sounds like a very good idea. Please let Jo know if you are willing to volunteer help or if you need it. You can also leave a comment here.
Hi Jo I’m still working and pass Woodford and Byfield, I’d be happy to be on the list if I can help at all. Fiona
Thanks Fiona, I’ll pass that on to Jo.