Last updated 22/01/2020
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Ashchurch Rural Parish lies to the east of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. In addition to the village of Ashchurch it includes six smaller hamlets: Aston Cross, Aston on Carrant, Fiddington, Natton, Pamington and Walton Cardiff. They are connected by a series of quiet and narrow winding lanes, public footpaths, and cycle ways which make the area very popular with dog walkers, joggers, cyclists, and horse riders. The parish is bordered by the Carrant Brook to the north with the Tirle Brook running through the centre of the parish from east to west. These brooks continue to the west and eventually connect with the river Avon and then the Severn.
Public footpaths in any particular area can be found from this online map maintained by Gloucester County Council.
The parish is served by the Ashchurch for Tewkesbury Railway Station and has good road links including the A46, a major trunk road, which leads to junction 9 on the M5.
The largest density of housing and population is to be found in the north of the Parish surrounding the A46. Although the Parish does not include large scale employment, nearby towns and cities, including Tewkesbury, Cheltenham and Gloucester do accommodate a wide range of employment, training and education facilities.
History of the Parish.
Ashchurch Rural Parish dates from April 2008 after boundary changes. Before that, from 1894, there had been Ashchurch Parish and an interesting history of Ashchurch Parish Council, by Alan Snarey, one of the Councillors, can be found here...
"A Potted History of Ashchurch Parish Council"
The 2011 census data showed that Ashchurch Rural Parish was home to 957 residents, many of these residents having spent much of their lives living in the Parish.
An interesting and comprehensive history of the area over a wider timeframe can be found at the British History Online website. This section covers the period from the 10th century to the mid 20th. The ebbs and flows of importance of the hamlets is included here and the ownership of land in the parish by some significant figures in England's history. The parish boundary refered to in the history is Ashchurch Parish, not Ashchurch Rural Parish.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol8/pp172-188
Five of the parish's hamlets are mentioned in the Doomsday Book written in 1086. Their, very brief, entries can be seen here...
Frosty days