Aston, Hertfordshire

The hamlet of Hooks Cross straddles the A602, Stevenage to Hertford road on the boundary of Aston and Datchworth.

By the time the Domesday Book was completed (1086), the small community of Estone, now Aston, was made up of about 25 families and included a priest.

His treasures and estates, including Estone, reverted to the Crown The manor, now in Royal possession, was presented by King Henry I in dower to his second wife, 18 year-old Adelicia, upon their marriage in 1121.

After the king died in 1135, the Dowager Queen visited Reading Abbey on the first anniversary of her husband's death and bestowed on the abbot and monks of the monastery the gift of "Easton" Manor.

[2] Easton, so named at this time, remained under monastic control for 300 years until the Dissolution (1536–39), when King Henry VIII proclaimed himself supreme head of the Church.

Distributing the spoils amongst his courtiers, Henry gave the manor of "Aston", for the tenth part of a Knight's fee, and a rent of 17 shillings and 11 pence, to the local favourite Sir Philip Boteler, Sheriff of Hertford.