In the records of Evesham Abbey we find the Manor, including the lands comprised therein, among the earliest property granted for its endowment.  The erection of the Abbey commenced about 701, and William of Malmesbury, writing of the loneliness of the spot, tells us that a small church, probably built by the Britons, had from an early date existed there.  In 709 sixty-five manses were given by Kenred, King of Mercia, leagued with Offa, King of the East Angles, including one in Aldinton (sic), and Domesday Survey mentions one hide of land (varying from 80 to 120 acres in different counties) in Aldintone (sic) as among the Abbey possessions at the time of the Norman Conquest.

Abbot Randulf, who died in 1229, built a grange at Aldington, and bought Aldington mill, in the reign of Henry III., when the hamlet was a berewic or corn farm held by the Abbey; and at the time of the Dissolution it was granted to Sir Philip Hoby, who appears to have been an intimate of Henry VIII., together with the Abbey buildings themselves and much of its other landed property.  The Manor remained in the hands of the Hoby family for many years, and was one of Sir Philip’s principal seats.  Freestone from the Abbey ruins seems to have been largely used for additions probably made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, for in some alterations I made about 1888, I found many carved and moulded stones, built into the walls, evidently the remains of arches from an ecclesiastical building, and Sir Philip Hoby is known to have treated the Abbey ruins as if they were nothing better than a stone quarry.

Leland, who by command of Henry VIII. visited Evesham very soon after the Dissolution, says that there was “noe towene” at Evesham before the foundation of the Abbey, and the earliest mention of a bridge there is recorded in monastic chronicles in 1159.

There is a notice of a Mr. Richard Hoby, youngest brother of Sir Philip, as churchwarden in 1602, and a monument, much dilapidated, is to be seen in the chancel of Badsey Church, erected to the memory of his wife and that of her first husband by Margaret Newman, their daughter, who married Richard Delabere of Southam, Warwickshire, in 1608.  Aldington afterwards became the property of Sir Peter Courtene, who was created a baronet in 1622.

Another explanation of the origin of the carved and moulded stones mentioned above may be found in the former existence of a chapel at Aldington, for there is evidence that a chapel existed there immediately before the Dissolution.  In an article in Badsey Parish Magazine by Mr. E.A.B.  Barnard, F.S.A., brought to my notice by the editor, the Rev. W.C.  Allsebrook, Vicar, details are given of the will of Richard Yardley of Awnton (Aldington), dated January 22, 1531, in which the following bequests are made: 

     To the Mother Church of Evesham, 2s. 
     To the Church of Badsey, a strike of wheat. 
     To the Church of Wykamford, one strike of barley. 
     To the Chappell at Awnton, one hog, one strike of wheat, and
       one strike of barley.