A Romano-British settlement and field system was west of the present-day village, spanning the county boundary; it was investigated in 1971 before it was destroyed by gravel extraction.

[3] In 1086, land at Essitone held by Cranborne Priory (Dorset) was recorded in the Domesday Book within Cricklade hundred.

The Horse and Jockey (now closed) was a "scrumpy house", selling cider made from the apples from the orchards in the village.

[5][9] The Swindon to Stroud railway, opened in 1841 and today known as the Golden Valley line, passes close to the southwest of Ashton Keynes parish.

[5] Since 1967[5] the lakes here and of nearby parishes in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire – over 40 square miles (100 km2) – have been designated as the Cotswold Water Park, with areas for nature conservation, recreation and holiday accommodation.

[14] Most members left for Paraguay, but a few stayed in England, bought a 182-acre (74 ha) farm near Ludlow, and moved there in March 1942.

The chancel arch has three carved orders; Butterfield made this wider and taller but keeping stonework from the late 12th century.

In the next century the three-stage tower was built, the walls of the aisles were rebuilt and the clerestory (outer superstructure) was added; altogether giving the form close to that of today.

Some windows were renewed in the 19th century, and Butterfield's work embellished the east end of the chancel using polychrome brickwork and floor tiles.

As to ecclesiastical parish this and the benefice continued as 'Ashton Keynes with Leigh'[19][20] however the two separated in their parochial church council some time after 1978.

The village's remaining pub, the White Hart Inn, is collectively owned and run by residents who took on the licence in 2011.

[31] The river forms two channels – making a large square – in the parish, enclosing the western half of the village and in the past powering mills of a modest nature.

[33] Made of limestone it is "probably medieval"; it has two arches, vertical sides rising to form a parapet 80 cm high, triangular copings and a raised, squared apex.

[citation needed] Parts of the parish see periodic flooding, and the village channel along beside High Road was prone to washing down to the school and beyond on its near banks.

Such villagers expected parts of their grounds or even home to be flooded every winter, although the channel could be controlled to directed to the other, considerably, by opening and closing 'hatches' and ideally pre-emptively by raising of the main sluice after the point of divergence took place.

As late as 1924 there were 23 children absent from school in June when flooding in the Derry (south of the Horse and Jockey public house) stranded them in their bedrooms after a night of storms.

[35] Upper Waterhay Meadow, frequently flooded by a Thames channel itself, hosts such species as snakeshead fritillaries – managed by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve.