Wheaton Aston, United Kingdom

History

The first known reference to Wheaton Aston is in the Domesday Book where the parish of Lapley is mentioned and includes other local settlements.

Up to the 18th century, Wheaton Aston was regarded as something of a spa due to the existence of a mineral spring in one of the gardens.

In 1777, the first major event in the village happened when a fire burnt down over half of the village. This is known locally as the 'Great Fire'.

In the 1830s, Thomas Telford built the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction canal (now known as the Shropshire Union Canal) through the edge of the village, bringing a lot of people and trade into the village. This was due to the canal being the main through route between Liverpool and London.

There are a pair of moles feet from 1902 on display in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford that were carried in the pocket of an old man from Wheaton Aston as a cure against toothache.

During World War II, the village had an operational airfield roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the village, which is now used as farm land, however the buildings (control tower etc.) are still present but derelict.

The last large event to occur in the village was the introduction of the sewers into the village in the 1960s and 1970s which allowed the village to grow in size very quickly, and resulted in many new housing estates.

From the History section of Wheaton Aston on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.