Talk:Aston Cockayne

Birth place and date[edit]

I've changed Aston's birth place from Elvaston Castle to Ashbourne Hall as per the reference: The Gentleman's Magazine for 1863. I think this is a reliable source, but I'm open to discussion. The above source also indicates that his birth was in 1605 rather than 1608; although it confirms that he was baptised on 20 December 1608. Note that Elvaston Castle not built until 1633 (this is the present building; I can't find any records of an earlier one). Any assistance or further information would be welcomed. -- MightyWarrior (talk) 22:21, 4 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've read quite a lot about him over the years and have never heard of him being born at Elvaston Castle. His mother was a Stanhope, and his grandfather (Sir John Stanhope) was the owner of "Elvaston Castle" at the time; airquotes because the actual castle hadn't been constructed by that point. It is possible that there was an earlier house, but it cold just be simply confusion: Elvaston Castle was built on the land of Shelford Priory (the Stanhope's bought all of this land following the dissolution) and Ashton's grandfather Sir John lived at Shelford Manor which was built on the old priory site. As it's built "on the land of Shelford Priory" it could be that someone interpreted Elvaston's construction as the direct successor to Shelford.

I have read of mothers going to their family home to give birth, especially for their first birth, but everything I've read has said he was born at Ashbourne Hall.
The truth is that we will probably never know. With no birth certificates we generally "guess" the birthplace from where they were baptised. The nobility, however, are extremely mobile; so he could be born in the family's estates in Derbyshire or Warwickshire; at his mother's family's estates in Nottinghamshire; the family also had affairs in London - He could have been born anywhere inbetween.
I think it was most likely he was born at one of the family's estates: so at either Ashbourne Hall or Pooley Hall. Everything I've read says Ashbourne though. -- Rushton2010 (talk) 21:34, 19 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]