Chapel Ascote - A Deserted Village

Chapel Ascote is a small deserted parish on the edge of Ladbroke and Bishops Itchington, and when I moved there in 1975 and worked on the farm, I was intrigued by the unusual land marks, old pathways, pottery shards and strange shaped stones I found. So much so I started to research the local history and found a 1653 document which said “anciently an eminent parish” and for many years past the estates being in “great men’s hands” and I wanted to know – who were these Great Men?


They turned out to be ancestors of our future King, Prince William, Catesby of gunpowder plot fame and a Captain who was beheaded in the Battle of Edgehill, to name but a few.