All Saints Church is a beautiful medieval church, with a history going back to the 12th century. Around 700 AD, the people of Aston embraced Christianity and built a church; probably of wood and wattle. It is recorded in the Domesday Book that “a church is there, and a priest”. There are traces of that church beneath the present building. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the church was rebuilt in stone. Since then the building has been extended a number of times although some of the original early 12th century stonework remains.
In the 13th century, the church was probably a rectangular building covering what is now the Nave. There would have been a solid west wall where now there is a tower.
The porch was constructed in the 14th century. The badly eroded figures on either side of the entrance are effigies of King Edward III and Queen Phillipa. This dates the porch to no later than 1369 – the year the Queen died. A 1900 newspaper reported that the carvings were in near perfect condition but the acid rain later in the 20th century has almost obliterated them.
The tower was erected sometime between 1350 and 1450. The tower is about eighty feet in height and overlooks all the other buildings in the Parish. It has had many uses over the centuries. In its early days it provided a look out and refuge in times of trouble. It was also used as a temporary gaol to hold people awaiting trial. In around 1552 there were six bells in the tower: the surviving bell-rope holes indicate that the bells were swung. There are now just three bells, two of which date from 1784. One of them is connected to the Parish clock and strikes the hours.
The most recent addition to the church is the Narthex, which was built in 1989. It provides a toilet, kitchen and a meeting room.
Further information can be found at www.allsaintsaston.com. Permission has been given by the PCC for the placement of this cache.
To find the cache, go to the above coordinates and find the gravestone of Sarah & Jospeph Chumbley.
Find the year that Sarah died, this is ABCD.
The cache is at N53 21.(B-A)(C-D)(D-A-A) W001 17.BC(A+C+D)
************************************************************
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here http://churchmicro.co.uk/ There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html
************************************************************
***CONGRATULATIONS to SimeyBop for being the FTF 
***