Ashton Keynes

About

This ancient village is set between Cirencester and Cricklade on the Wiltshire/Gloucestershire border and has many Cotswold stone buildings.

The village is dominated by water; the River Thames is on the southern boundary and the Thames Path goes through the village and part of the Cotswold Water Park is in the parish. The village was known as AESCTUN in 800 AD and appeared in the Domesday book as ESSITONE in 1086 and changed its name 10 times in the next 800 years until its present name was recorded. In mediaeval times the area was a Royal Foreest, during the Civil War it was held by the Parliamentarians.

During the 19th century the local women made gloves. At the start of the 20th Century gravel extraction began around Ashton Keynes for use in concrete. In 1939 there were just 14 acres of water in the neighbourhood, but today after the extraction of 15 million tons of gravel there are 150 acres of lakes making up the Cotswold Water Park. The Church of the Holy Cross is mostly Norman, and consists of a chancel with north chapel, a nave of four bays with aisles, north and south porches and a western tower containing five bells. It was restored in 1876-7 by William Butterfield.

Walk the Thames Path National Trail from Cricklade to the source of the Thames near Cirencester and stop off at Ashton Keynes on the way.  Along the way you'll pass into the Cotswold Water Park and several lakes and after Ashton Keynes the trail passes the edge of villages: Somerford Keynes, Ewen and Kemble on it's way to the stone that marks the source of the Thames and the end of the Thames Path.