North Aston - Economic and Social History

Economic and Social History

The Domesday Book records a watermill in the parish, presumably on the River Cherwell. The Gambon family were the millers for most of the 13th century, and it continued to be called Gambon's Mill until the 18th century. From the latter part of the 16th century until early in the 18th century it seems to have been a double mill with two millraces and two separate tenants. The last known record of a double mill is from 1733. The Rose family were millers here continuously from 1673 until its commercial closure in 1938, although grain continued to be milled for local use throughout the period of the Second World War, and for a brief time afterwards. The Mill was sold off by the Estate in 1950 and by 1955 had been converted into a private home. Its machinery has been restored and in 1980 remained in situ.

The stretch of the Oxford Canal between Banbury and Tackley was completed in 1787. It runs along the Cherwell valley and for a short distance it forms the eastern boundary of North Aston parish.

A village school was built in 1844 and was supervised by the Church of England Diocese of Oxford. In 1872 it moved to new premises when William Foster-Melliar converted the original coach house to the North Aston Hall into a schoolroom with two teachers' cottages attached. In 1923 it was reorganised as a junior school and senior pupils were transferred to the school at Steeple Aston. After the second World War the number of pupils steadily declined, and in 1955 North Aston school was closed. For some twenty years the old schoolroom was a village hall for the community, but in 1976 the building was converted into a private house.