Aston Cantlow

Aston Cantlow is a village and civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England, on the River Alne. It lies 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of Stratford, and 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Wilmcote. The parish stretching across the valley of the Alne includes the villages of Aston Cantlow, Little Alne, Shelfield, and Newnham. The main village, consisting of a single street, lies on the east bank of the stream; and behind the hamlet of Little Alne on the opposite bank, about ¼ mile north-west, the Alne Hills rise to rather over 400 ft (120 m). round the scattered hamlet of Shelfield. The valley is bounded on the east and south by a line of low hills, partly wooded, which divide it from the Avon. On this ridge are two more hamlets, Newnham and about a mile to the south, Wilmcote, which has been a separate ecclesiastical parish since 1863. The eastern extremity of the parish touches Bearley and Snitterfield and includes the hamlet of Pathlow on the Birmingham-Stratford road. It was the home of Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,674.