LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
The lord of Aston
Pogges claimed courts baron and views of frankpledge in 1279, though then and later tenants
attended the lord of Bampton's hundred court
once a year after Michaelmas, and in the 17th
century chose a constable, tithingman, and
herdsman there. A tithingman for 'Aston hundred', presumably representing the freeholders,
was also appointed by the Bampton court, where
he made his presentations. (fn. 81) A dispute over
royalty c. 1660 was settled reportedly in the lord
of Aston's favour, but in the later 17th century
the Bampton court retained some jurisdiction
and habitually fined Aston inhabitants for failure
to scour watercourses. (fn. 82) The Aston court seems
by the later 15th century to have dealt solely or
primarily with copyholds, though in the early
16th century tenants received no copies of the
grants made, which created confusion later. (fn. 83)
Courts baron were still held in 1764 and, reportedly, in 1852 at Cote House, (fn. 84) but presumably
lapsed at inclosure. Separate courts were held
for the submanor of Golofers in the 14th century
and were mentioned in the 16th, probably in
error, after it was reunited with Aston manor. (fn. 85)
Tenants in Aston and Cote of Bampton Deanery manor attended that manor's court as a
separate tithing. In the 14th century and still in
the early 16th they had their own aletaster, and
in the late 18th and probably the 15th shared a
constable with the manor's tenants in Bampton
and Clanfield. (fn. 86) Tenants of Shifford manor attended the Shifford court until 1612 when the
lord sold their holdings. (fn. 87)
Agricultural regulation was by 1593 the responsibility of the Sixteens, a body of 16
inhabitants (one for each of the 16 ploughlands
into which the township was theoretically divided) who were elected annually at Aston cross
on Lady Eve by all the householders, any not
attending being fined 4d. (fn. 88) The Sixteens' independence has been cited as evidence for a free
village community at Aston and Cote in the
Middle Ages and traced to Anglo-Saxon antecedents, (fn. 89) but there is no indication that the
township's early manorial organization was
different from elsewhere in the parish, and the
system probably resulted, as claimed in the 17th
century, (fn. 90) from the township's division between
several lordships and freeholds, combined, perhaps, with laxity on the part of non-resident
lords. In 1657 Thomas Horde (d. 1715) attempted to annexe the Sixteens' rights and
responsibilities to his manor court, electing rival
officers, extracting covenants from copyholders
that they would not recognize the Sixteens'
authority, and seizing the meadows under their
control. A compromise preserved the Sixteens'
rights while accepting that they acted with the
lord's consent, and that officers, once elected,
should be sworn at the manor court. (fn. 91) The
Sixteens continued until the inclosure of Aston
and Cote in 1855, meeting latterly in a public
house. (fn. 92)
In the 16th century and later the Sixteens
allotted shares in meadows, instituted and enforced field orders through imposition of fines,
and had power to distrain; by the early 18th
century and still in the mid 19th they provided
town bulls. (fn. 93) Ordinarily they met at Aston cross
on the Tuesday of Easter week, the Wednesday
of Rogation week, the Wednesday of Whitsun
week, and on Lammas Eve, with a quorum of
nine, but could be summoned to the cross
between meetings if field orders were broken.
They remained accountable to the inhabitants
and their officers, who after a warning could
impound their goods and fine them. (fn. 94) Major
decisions such as re-ordering the fields appar
ently needed the inhabitants' agreement. (fn. 95)
Officers were elected annually, some by the
lord's tenants among the Sixteens, others by
the 'hundred tenants', presumably freeholders
or tenants of other manors. In the late 16th
century and the 18th the officers included 3
grass stewards, a hayward, a cowherd, and 2
water haywards. (fn. 96) All those offices carried small
hams in the meadows; other hams allotted by
the Sixteens, but possibly no longer attached to
particular offices by the 17th century, included
warden's, smith's, wonter's (or mole-catcher's),
and brander's. (fn. 97) By the earlier 19th century there
were 4 grass stewards and a cowherd, still with
their own hams. (fn. 98) Constables, appointed at the
Bampton court possibly until 1842, reportedly
continued in the early 1850s when there was said
to be one for Aston and one for Cote. (fn. 99)
Aston paid church rates to Bampton until the
19th century, (fn. 1) and by the 16th seems to have
appointed a warden for Bampton church. (fn. 2)
Cote appointed a chapelwarden for Shifford
probably in the 15th century and still in the
late 19th. (fn. 3) Two churchwardens for the
newly-built Aston church were appointed
presumably from 1839, and were so called by
1850. (fn. 4) As a new ecclesiastical district Aston,
like Lew, retained responsibility for repairs to
Bampton church for 20 years, though in 1855
Aston's ratepayers objected to the rate set,
claiming that they were being charged for more
general expenditure. (fn. 5)
For poor-law and other civil purposes Aston
and Cote were administered together. (fn. 6) A surveyor of highways was chosen by the inhabitants
and the Sixteens in the 17th century, (fn. 7) and a
collector was noted in 1642; overseers, probably
two, were mentioned occasionally thereafter. In
the late 17th century the overseers received
rent from some or all of the 'town lands',
possibly sold before 1841 when the 'parish'
owned only four cottages in the hamlets; (fn. 8) those
too had apparently been sold by 1857, (fn. 9) though
at inclosure in 1855 the churchwardens and
overseers received 10 a. as a poor allotment, subject to annual rent charges of £17. (fn. 10) A vestry,
presumably replacing an earlier assembly, met
in the 1850s up to 4 times a year, at first in the
Star inn or Red Lion and from 1855 in the
vestry room in Aston church; it appointed two
surveyors of highways and from 1856 two poorallotment wardens, and nominated usually 4
overseers to the magistrates. Its only other recorded business was making church, highway,
and poor rates, and in 1849 it authorized a fund
towards emigration costs. (fn. 11) An armed watchman
and sometimes a beadle were separately appointed under the Lighting and Watching Act
in the 1840s and 1850s, and in 1842 tithingmen
were to assist them on Saturday nights. (fn. 12) After
1894 the vestry's residual functions passed to a
parish council, which continued in 1991. (fn. 13)
Poor law expenditure in 1775-6 was £130,
falling by 1784 to possibly c. £57; in 1785 the
poor were reportedly farmed for £115. (fn. 14) By 1803
expenditure was £477, c. 15s. per head of population, and by 1813 it had doubled to £940, c.
30s. per head. Despite a temporary fall it rose
after 1815 to c. 39s. per head, falling gradually
in the mid 1820s to c. 18s., but rising again by
1832 to 30s., a total expenditure of £1,084. (fn. 15)
Throughout that period the poor rate, said c.
1828 to have been formerly very low, was frequently higher than in any of Bampton's hamlets
except Chimney, and c. 1818 one farm let for
£115 a year was charged over £60. (fn. 16) In 1803
there were 50 adults and 55 children on regular
relief, c. 16 per cent of the population, and 57
people on occasional relief, though only 2s. 4d.
was spent on materials to employ them; from
1813 to 1815 there were c. 49 people on regular
and c. 11 on occasional relief. (fn. 17) No overseers'
accounts are known. (fn. 18)
From 1834 Aston and Cote belonged to Witney
union, and from 1894 to Witney rural district.
In 1974 they became part of West Oxfordshire
district. (fn. 19)