Aston Abbots

106. ASTON ABBOTS.

(O.S. 6 in. ^(a)xxiv. S.W. ^(b)xxviii. N.E.)

Ecclesiastical

^a (1). Parish Church of St. James the Great stands at the N. end of the village. It was re-built in 1865–6, except the West Tower, which is of rough ashlar, and of late 15th or early 16th-century date. Some 14th-century work has been re-set in the chancel.

Architectural Description—The Chancel has an E. window of three lights, all modern, except the internal label and part of the splay which are 14th-century work, re-set. One window in the N. wall, and one in the S. wall, each of two lights and tracery, also have old stones re-set. The West Tower (9½ ft. by 9 ft.) is of one high stage with large diagonal buttresses at the W. angles, and a square S.E. stair-turret. All the detail is of late 15th or early 16th-century date. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders dying into the side walls. In the S. wall is a square-headed chamfered doorway opening into the stair-turret. The W. doorway has a straight-sided four-centred head of two chamfered orders dying into the single deep hollow chamfer of the jambs; the stops of the external label are uncut. The W. window is of three trefoiled lights under a four-centred head with an external label. The E. and W. walls of the bell-chamber have each two windows, the N. and S. walls one window, all single lights with roughly pointed or four-centred heads.

Fittings—Bells: five, 1st, 2nd, and 4th, by Anthony Chandler, 1652. Chests: In tower—plain, possibly 17th-century or earlier date. In nave— at W. end, with curved lid bound with floriated bands and studded with nails, in front two enriched moulded panels, on lid inscription and date, 1695. Font: plain octagonal bowl, octagonal base broachstopped on square plinth, apparently 15th-century, much scraped and restored, said to have been brought from elsewhere. Piscina: In chancel— in S. wall, with moulded pointed head, apparently 15th-century. Plate: includes cup and cover paten of 1562, both originally parcel-gilt, but little gilding remaining.

Condition—Good; re-built except tower; bell-chamber windows much weathered.

Secular

^a(2). The Royal Oak Inn, about 370 yards S.E. of the church, is of two storeys, partly timber-framed, with plaster and brick filling, and partly of brick. The roofs are thatched and tiled. It consists of a rectangular block, facing E., built late in the 16th or early in the 17th century, and a wing, making the plan T-shaped, added in the 18th century, when the original building was much altered, the walls being partly under-built. The timber-framing of the original house has heavy wall-posts with curved braces; the first floor projects at the S. end, which has a half-hipped gable. There are dormer windows in the thatch. The chimneys apparently have been re-built.

Condition—Fairly good.

^b(3). Lower Burston Farm, about one mile S.W. of the church, is a house of two storeys, built of brick c. 1600, and almost completely re-built in the 18th and 19th centuries, much of the original brickwork being re-used; the roofs are tiled. The plan is roughly L-shaped, but the original arrangement has been completely altered. In the S. wall, on the ground floor, is a window of c. 1600 and of five lights with moulded jambs, head and mullions.

In the farmyard are some fragments of carved stone of the 15th century. A stone re-used as the quoin of an out-building is carved with a guilloche pattern, and is of c. 1600.

Condition—Good; re-built.