Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire - <>

Ashton Keynes is a village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England which borders with Gloucestershire. The village is about 5mi south of Cirencester and 3.5mi west of Cricklade. At the 2011 census the population of the parish was 1,400. The village lies within the Cotswold Water Park and is the only settlement substantially on both sides of the River Thames, which has many channels here, centred 6.5mi from its source at Thames Head.The parish includes the hamlet of North End.HistoryThe village was known as Aesctun in 800 AD, appeared in the Domesday Book within Cricklade hundred as Essitone in 1086. Ten variants of the name are recorded over the next 800 years.A large Romano-British settlement was on the edge of the present-day village; it was excavated in the late 1980s in advance of extensive gravel extraction. Ashton Keynes Castle (or Hall's Close) was a 12th-century ringwork, just north of the village.The manor was held by the de Cahaignes or Keynes family, and this was incorporated into the village name.Ashton House was built in the 18th century and is Grade II listed.

Tags: City