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Ashley
Winsley, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The former Little Ashley farmhouse
Ashley is a scattered hamlet in the Tithing of Winsley, in the Ancient Parish of Bradford, now in the Civil Parish of Winsley. It lies to the northwest of Bradford on a network of lanes and footpaths. It comprises Great Ashley, Little Ashley and a former small settlement call Coxstile (or Cock Style), which has completely disappeared, as has France Farm.
What has sometimes been called the Manor of Ashley was in existence in 1280, when Roger de Asselegh was a holding an estate there under the Abbey of Shaftesbury’s Manor of Bradford. The family took their name from the place and one member, Robert Ashley who died in 1432/3 was MP for Wiltshire in 1419. Another descendant, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper (1621-1683) took as his title Lord Ashley before becoming the first Earl of Shaftesbury.
The area around Ashley on Thomas Thorpe’s map of 1742. It shows the mansion at Little Ashley with an avenue of trees leading to it from the direction of Bradford. The house seems to have been still in existence in the 1830s, but was demolished soon afterwards.