the manor of Modbury in Devon. Parish church The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul are the north and south walls of the nave, which are Norman and from around 1100. The chancel was rebuilt late in the 13th century in the Decorated Gothic style. The Decorated Gothic bell tower and north and south aisles were added in the 14th century. In the 15th century natural light in the church was increased by the addition of a window in the north wall and a clerestory above the nave, both of which are Perpendicular Gothic. The church tower had a spire until 1811, when some of the stonework of the tower parapet fell off and the spire was removed during the tower repairs. In 1831 the Perpendicular Gothic roof of the nave was replaced with a new flat one. The chancel was renovated in 1850 and its present east window was inserted in 1856. In 1874 the north aisle was extended westwards by one bay to provide a chamber in which an organ was installed. The architect E.G. Bruton restored the building in 1884. The tower has a ring of six bells. The oldest is the fourth bell, which Roger Landen of Wokingham, Berkshire cast in about 1450. Ellis I Knight of Reading cast the second, third and tenor bells in 1625. John Warner and Sons of Cripplegate, London cast the fifth bell in 1873 and the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present treble bell in 1975, completing the current ring of six. Social and economic history Aston Rowant was a large strip parish, more than double its current size, extending about from the southern edge of Thame Park in the northwest to Beacon's Bottom high in the Chilterns to the southeast. The 1841 Census recorded a parish population greater than today, at 884 people. However the parish included Stokenchurch until 1844. The village school was founded in or before 1833 as a National School for girls, and in 1844 its present premises were built and it became a mixed school. In 1931 it was reorganised as a junior school and in 1951 it became a Church of England school. The single-track Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway was built in 1872 and opened Aston Rowant railway station about from the village. The Great Western Railway operated the line until nationalisation in 1948.