Monument record 46 - Aynho

Village recorded in the Domesday Book, at which time the population was estimated to have been 150. The manor was initially held by Geoffrey de Mandeville.

{1} A map of Upper Fields of Aynho from the Old Map before the inclosure, and now laid down with a description as they were in 1720 and description of the meadows by Ed Grantham. Strip map divided into pages in a parchment volume.

{2} Aynho mentioned by Morton as place producing pottery.

{3} For most of its history Aynho was no more than an agricultural village. It acquired a fair in 1207 and then in 1324 a market and a second fair. However this cannot be taken as an indicator of the development of significant commercial activity in the village in association with the re-founding of the market, for there are various references to shops and to non-agricultural trades in Aynho both before and after the market was functioning. In 1543-4 there is record of a decayed shop: ‘And also ther ys axed for the Rente of one shope late in the tennure of Thomas Taylor senior for 2/8d by yere nowe in thandes of the lorde for because it ys all holle wasted & fallen to the grounde therefor it is in decaye this yere 2/8d…’. In 1616 there was an inn, common bakehouse and a shop, and in 1618 two shops are recorded. In the later 16th century the village butcher was presented at court for selling short weight and alehouses for selling short measure, for in the mid 16th century there was an inn and three or four ‘beggardly’ alehouses in the village.
In the 1620s and 1630s there is reference to several shops, inns and alehouses in Aynho and to a number of different non-agricultural trades. In 1631 John Balyve held a dwelling house and a shop with a room belonging to it. In 1632 there is reference to Thomas Gardiner, a tailor, and about the same time to Thomas Swetnam, who was both a husbandman and a blacksmith whose smiths shop lay next to an inn, probably the Red Lion. There are several other trades recorded in the village at this time, including a mason, and a labourer who was also possibly a sawyer.

{4} The earthwork remains partly result from the alteration of the road system on the west side of the village following the enclosure of the common fields in 1793, but also partly represent earlier changes.

{5} Aynho lies at the southernmost extremity of the county, being topographically an extension of the Cotswolds forming the Northamptonshire scarp. Its history is very well recorded in the estate records of the Cartwright family, resident from 1615 until the 1950s. There are also estate records held by Magdalen College, Oxford, which acquired the small Hospital of St James and St John with its lands and evidences, being one of the college founding appropriations made by William Wainflete, Bishop of Winchester, in 1463-4.

{6} The population of the village would have been about one hundred and fifty individuals at the time of the Domesday Survey. A survey of Aynho taken a generation alter the Black Death in 1369 reveals that of twenty five houses and eighteen cottages, nine were in ruins. The value of the land in the demesne had also fallen by one third and some areas were left uncultivated.

{8} Aynho is likely to have originated, in the Saxon period, as a roadside settlement on a major road between London and Banbury. The village is mentioned in Domesday Book which indicates that the village was in existence at the time of the Norman Conquest. Domesday Book records that Asgar, an important Saxon lord, held the manor, along with land for eight ploughs and a mill.

{15} Possibly not taken forward to Stage 2 survey and assessment.

{16} Collection of photographs of buildings in the village dating from the 1960s onwards.

{18} Fifteen photos, some dated January 1997, some dated March 1998, showing raised footpaths in Hollow Way and Blacksmith Hill;

<1> 1696/1720, The Topographical Descripton of the Lordship of the Manor of Aynho, Being the Land of Thomas Cartwright Esquire (NRO Map 4612 C(A)6268 (Map of Aynho)), (unchecked) (Map). SNN109339.

<2> Morton J., 1712, The Natural History of Northamptonshire, p.68-73 (unchecked) (Book). SNN10113.

<3> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Overview, Appendix 2 (checked) (Report). SNN103118.

<4> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.12 site 6 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<5> HALL D.N., 2006, Aynho Fields, Open and Enclosed, p.7-22 (part checked) (Article). SNN109284.

<6> COOPER N.J., 1984, Aynho: A Northants Village, (unchecked) (Article). SNN42457.

<7> Hall D., 1997, Aynho Archaeological Survey, p.239-42 (unchecked) (Article). SNN109338.

<8> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.453-559 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<8> OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT, 1999, Land at College Farm, Aynho, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment and Building Recording, p.3 (checked) (Report). SNN43379.

<9> 1812, Plan of the Village of Aynho (1812 based on a survey undertaken between 1696 and 1793), (unchecked) (Map). SNN75725.

<10> 1831, Map of Aynho Hill, (unchecked) (Map). SNN109481.

<12> 1846, Aynho Tithe Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN42503.

<13> 1862, Plan of the Late Mr. Gardner's Property, (unchecked) (Map). SNN109483.

<14> Plan of Part of the Parish of Aynho, (unchecked) (Map). SNN109484.

<15> 1833, Map Accompanying the List of Occupants of Aynho Almshouses, (unchecked) (Map). SNN109482.

<16> Various, Various, Photographs of buildings in Aynho (Photographs). SNN111137.

<17> South Northamptonshire Council, 2015, Aynho Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (Policy Document). SNN112129.

<18> Various, Various, Photographs of buildings in Aynho (Photographs). SNN111137.

Record last edited

May 28 2025 10:42AM