Aston Cantlow
| Aston Cantlow | |
|---|---|
 Lych gate and Old Post Office |
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 Aston Cantlow
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| Aston Cantlow shown within Warwickshire | |
| Population | 437 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | SP139595 |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HENLEY-IN-ARDEN |
| Postcode district | B95 |
| Police | Warwickshire |
| Fire | Warwickshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
Aston Cantlow is a village in Warwickshire, England, on the River Alne 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of Stratford and 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of Wilmcote and close to Little Alne, Shelfield, and Newnham. It was the home of Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,674, being measured again as 437 at the 2011 Census.
Prior to the Norman conquest in 1066, the manor of Aston was held by Earl Ælfgar, son of Earl Leofric who had died in 1057, and the husband of Lady Godiva. Osbern FitzRichard, son of Richard FitzScrob (or FitzScrope), builder of Richard's Castle, was the holder in 1086 as the Domesday Book records:
"In Ferncombe Hundred, Osbern son of Richard holds (Estone) Aston from the King. 5 hides. Land for 10 ploughs. 9 Flemings and 16 villagers with a priest and 10 small holders who have 12 ploughs. A mill at 8s and 5 sticks of eels; meadow, 40 acres; woodland 1 league in length and width. The value was 100s now £6. Earl Ælfgar held it".
Osbern died in 1137 and by 1169 it had passed to William the Chamberlain of Tankervill, who, by an undated grant gave to the Abbey of Winchcombe all the land, in wood and plain, between Alne and his manor of Estone on condition that it should remain uncultivated and that his men should enjoy the same common rights there as they had in the rest of the wood and plain of Alne. He was still holding the manor in 1177 and may have been succeeded by Ralph de Tankervill, who is referred to fifty years later as having formerly possessed it.
It ultimately escheated to the Crown and in 1204 King John (1199–1216) granted it to William I de Cantilupe (died 1239), from whose family, which held the manor for four generations in direct descent, the village takes its name. William's family name was added to the name of the manor of Aston, probably to differentiate it from another of the same name, in one of its many anciently-spelled varieties, Cantlow. William I de Cantilupe served King John as Justiciar and Steward of the Household, served several times as Sheriff of Warwickshire, and from 1215 to 1223 was Governor of Kenilworth Castle. He attained the status of a feudal baron, his barony, of which Aston became a member, having its baronial seat or caput at Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire. The family had been conspicuous for several generations, "evil councillors" of King John and his son Henry III, as Matthew Paris recorded, and strong supporters of the Crown against the Barons. On his death in 1239 his son William II de Cantilupe (died 1251) succeeded him both in his estates and as Steward of the Royal Household. Either William II or his son William III de Cantilupe is referred to as holding the manor, valued at £40, by unknown feudal tenure, of the gift of King John.Dugdale notes that the family remained lords of the manor in 1250. William III's younger brother Thomas de Cantilupe (died 1282), who never held the manor, became Bishop of Hereford in 1275 and in 1320 was canonised as St Thomas of Hereford. William III de Cantilupe died in 1254, leaving a three-year-old son George de Cantilupe (died 1273), later Baron Bergavenny, as his heir. During George's minority his wardship, and therefore the custody of the manor, was granted to the Queen of the Romans. On his death in 1273 without children the senior male line of the family died out, his heir being his nephew John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings and Baron Bergavenny (died 1313).
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