ASHTON (LONG), a parish in the hundred of
HARTCLIFFE-with-BEDMINSTER, county of SOMERSET,
2 miles (S.W. by W.) from Bristol, containing 1168 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the
archdeaconry of Bath, and diocese of Bath and Wells,
rated in the king's books at £10. 17. 11., and in the patronage
of Sir J. Smyth, Bart. The church is dedicated
to All Saints. There were formerly a chapel and
hermitage at Rownan Ferry, in this parish. In 1661,
Francis Derrick gave a piece of land producing about
£8 per annum, which, exclusively of 10*'. to the minister,
and 10*. to the poor, is appropriated towards the
support of a school. Anne Smyth, in 1760, left a rentcharge
of £10, which has been applied to the support
of a National school, to which, in 1822, John Stanton
gave £ 100. On the eastern point of Ashton hill are
two intrenchments, called Burwalls and Stokeleigh,
now overgrown with wood, which appear to have been
Roman camps; many Roman coins have been dug up
in the vicinity.