AYNHO, a parish (formerly a market-town), in the
hundred of KING'S-SUTTON, county of NORTHAMPTON,
2 miles (E. by N.) from Deddington, containing 719
inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry
of Northampton, and diocese of Peterborough,
rated in the king's books at £25. 5. 5., and in the patronage
of W. R. Cartwright, Esq. The church is dedicated
to St. Michael. Robert Wild, a Presbyterian
minister, and a poet and satirist, held this living during
the Commonwealth; but having been ejected from it in
1662, he retired to Oundle, where he died in 1679.
The village, which is of considerable size, is situated on
a rocky eminence, from the foot of which issues a copious
spring, called the "Town Well." A charter was
obtained, in the 17th of Edward II., for a weekly market
and a fair annually at Michaelmas, but both have
long since been discontinued. A free school was
founded by John Cartwright, and endowed with a rentcharge
of £20. Here was anciently an hospital, dedicated
to St. John and St. James, founded about the
time of Henry II., which, in 1484, was united to Magdalene
College, Oxford, by gift of the patron, William
Fitz-Alan. The Roman Portway, a vicinal road, runs
through this parish, and is visible at' the eastern end of
the village. Shakerley Marmion, a dramatic writer, was
born at the manor-house, in 1602.