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The Aston\Aughton\Swallownest pop c 14,000 (1991 census) |
What used to be 2 villages, and a farm on a crossroads, have now merged into a small town with the gaps between them filled by houses. The 1905 map shows how Aston consisted of just a few houses around the parish church. It is a popular place for commuters to live in as it is next to the M1\M18 motorways, and the A57, and is also the focus of many bus routes. Sheffield, Rotherham, and Worksop are all under 30 mins away. Rother Valley and Ulley Country Parks lie on Aston/Swallownest's southern border, so it's certainly handy for a little light sailing\fishing\mountain biking, etc.
At the time of the Domesday book (1086) Aston was called Estone
(east farmstead) and Aughton was Hacstone (oak-tree farmstead) and
had a combined value of about £1 (1 pound sterling!). This
was way down on their pre Norman invasion value of £3.50 (all
of England was assessed as having a taxable value of £73,000.
Today in 2011 the UK GDP is over £1,000,000,000,000 - which
shows what 1000 years of inflation and economic growth will do! The
Norman subjugation of England devastated its economy in a way only
matched by the Black Death some 300 years later, and that killed
about 1/3 of the population of Europe. About 60 people lived here
in 1066.
In 1801 it was still only around 600. By 1871 it had leapt to 1,700
as coal mining, steel making etc. drew in workers. In 1991 the
parish population was circa 15,000. Since 2000 there have been
numerous housing developments so the population will have
grown.
Swallownest is named after the Swallow family who had a farm on the site. It is not listed in the Domesday book and only came into existence in the 18th century and even in 1840 consisted of only 10 houses. Today few of the original stone farm buildings survive, and Swallownest is now mainly modern housing estates, with plenty built since 2005. The grave of Bill Swallow, who gave his name to the place, used to be in the local cemetary (though I can't find it!).