22 May 2025

Newport Pagnell is the home of
Aston Martin, but were there any
links with Aston or with Lichfield?

Newport Pagnell has been the home of Aston Martin for almost 80 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I suppose it’s because I am an Aston Villa fan – and quite a happy one these days – that I had always thought the Aston Martin had its home at or had taken its name from Aston, also the home of Aston Villa and Villa Park.

I have been a Villa fan ever since my teens, probably – almost certainly – because Villa were the big-name side nearest to Lichfield, and because Aston is such an accessible station on the train from Lichfield into Birmingham.

In my childhood and throughout my teens, the Aston Martin, as the name of luxury sports cars and grand tourers seemed to represent suave style and smooth sophistication, enhanced by Aston Martin’s involvement in motorsport, sports car racing and in Formula One.

Drivers like Stirling Moss and Jim Clark developed the reputation of Aston Martin in the 1950s and 1960s, and the name was glamourised or exaggerated when the Aston Martin become the car of choice for James Bond in the third Bond film Goldfinger in 1964.

Not that I ever learned to drive, or, for that matter, ever watched even one single Bond film from start to finish – although neither admission has ever stopped me from appreciating the aesthetic styling of classic and vintage cars.

Aston, the home of Aston Villa … but was there ever any link with Aston Martin? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Somehow, every time I passed through Aston on the line between Lichfield and Birmingham, or visited Villa Park, I still continued to imagine – no matter how mistakenly – that I was close to the home of Aston Martin. At the same time, somewhere in the back of my mind I had maintained the memory that there was some remote connection with Lichfield.
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It was only when I moved to Stony Stratford and found myself enjoyinged ‘Classic Stony’ that I realised the home of Aston Martin is actually nearby in Newport Pagnell, and that the ‘Aston’ part of the name comes not from Aston, Aston Hall, or Aston Villa, but from Aston Hill near Aston Clinton in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

The stories all seemed to coalesce when I found myself at the home of Aston Martain on Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell at the end of last week.

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin (1878-1945) and Robert Bamford (1883-1942). They had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell and service cars. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini.

After World War I, Bamford left the business in 1920. Bamford & Martin went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Dorothea Benson (1876-1942), Lady Charnwood. Her husband Godfrey Rathbone Benson (1864-1945), had been Mayor of Lichfield from 1909 until 1911, when he was made a peer with the title of Baron Charnwood.

Lady Charnwood, who lived at Stowe House in Lichfield, put her son John Benson (1901-1955) on the board. But Bamford & Martin got into financial difficulty again in 1925 and Martin was forced to sell the company, ending Aston Martin’s last links with the founder who had given his name to the business.

Later that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and investors including Lady Charnwood took control of the business, renamed it Aston Martin Motors and moved it to Feltham in West London.

Aston Martin took its name from the Aston Hill Climb at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton

David Brown Ltd bought Aston Martin in 1947, and at the same time acquired Lagonda, which moved to Newport Pagnell and shared engines, resources and workshops. Ever since, Newport Pagnell has been associated with the bespoke and luxury car maker. Newport Pagnell already had a rich coach building tradition that dated back to 1830 when Salmons Coachworks was formed.

The move from Feltham to Newport Pagnell was encouraged by the opening of the M1, the first motorway in the UK, in the early 1960s. It provided both rapid transport links and – in the days before speed limits – a convenient test track. And so, Sunnyside in Tickford Street, Newport Pagnell, which became Aston Martin’s global headquarters in the early 1960s. The factory welcomed several royal and celebrity visitors over the years, including one by Queen Elizabeth II in 1966.

Aston Martin sports cars were made at Newport Pagnell over the span of 52, with over 13,300 cars sent to customers all over the world. Among the many models designed and built there were: DB4, DB5 and DB6, V8 Vantage, the William Towns Lagonda and the original Vanquish.

The DB2/4 MkII was the first Aston Martin produced at the Tickford Street site. The DB5, launched in 1963 and became the most famous model was launched. Sean Connery starred with the DB5 in several James Bond film from 1964 on. The Aston Martin AMV8 was introduced in 1972 and production ran right through to 1989. In April 1984, Aston Martin celebrated the landmark production of its 10,000th car. Ford had fully acquired the company by 1993.

In 2007, the Newport Pagnell plant rolled out the last of nearly 13,000 cars made there since 1955, a Vanquish S. The Tickford Street facility was converted and became the home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department, which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. UK production was later concentrated at Gaydon in Warwickshire, until a large site in St Athan, South Wales, was acquired in 2017 for a new factory. Production work retuned to Newport Pagnell that year.

Today the Aston Martin headquarters and the main production of sports cars and grand tourers are at Gaydon in Warwickshire. The facility in Newport Pagnell is the present home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department, which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. The factory in St Athan, Wales, is the production site of Aston Martin’s SUV, the DBX.

As a child, Dorothea Thorpe, later Lady Charnwood, was painted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais in 1882

As for Lady Charnwood, who had a controlling stake in Aston Martin 100 years ago in the mid-1920s, she seems to be only significant connection I can find between Lichfield and Aston Martin. Her moher, Nelly Thorpe, was the daughter of the Liberal politician Anthony John Mundella. As a child, Dorothea was painted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais in 1882.

Nelly Thorpe bought Stowe House in Lichfield 1902, but fell ill soon after moving in. Dorothea and her husband Godfrey Rathbone Benson (1864-1945) then moved into the house. A Liberal politician and a man of letters, Benson was elected to Lichfield city council in 1904, was the Mayor of Lichfield in 1910-1911, and became Baron Charnwood in 1911.

Nelly Thorpe died in 1919, but the Charnwoods continued to live at Stowe House until 1933. Dorothea inherited many important literary manuscripts from her aunt, including many of the papers of Edward Lear; her husband was a pillar of the Johnson Society and its president in 1934-1935.

Their son John Roby Benson (1901-1955), who had been placed on the board of Aston Martin in 1925 by his mother, was the Sheriff of Lichfield 1933-1934, and remained at Stowe House until about 1937. He succeeded his father as Lord Charnwood in 1945, but the title died with him in 1955.

Stowe House had oter literary connections, as it once been the home of Thomas Day, the author of Sandford and Merton and of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. Curiously, it was built in the 1750s by Elizabeth Aston, daughter of Sir Thomas Aston of Aston – but that was Aston in Runcorn, Cheshire, and not Aston, the home of Aston Villa.

• ‘Classic Stony’ takes place again in Stony Stratford on Sunday 1 July from 9:30 am until 4 pm. It is run in partnership with Stony Stratford Business Association as part of ‘Stony Live’ week, and the day is in aid of Willen Hospice.

Newport Pagnell remains the emotional home of Aston Martin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Easter 2025:
33, Thursday 22 May 2025

‘God is Love, God is Light, God is with us’ … a panel in the north ambulatory in Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (8 June 2025), or Whit Sunday. This week began with the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V, 18 May 2025), known in the Orthodox Church as the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman.

Later this morning I may go to the mid-week morning Eucharist in All Saints’ Church, Calverton, which is about 20 minutes’ walk from Stony Stratford, and I have an appointment with the dentist later this afternoon. But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

A side aisle in Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 15: 9-11 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 9 ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.’

Southwark Cathedral was at the heart of the movement known as ‘South Bank Religion’ in the late 20th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

While Mervyn Stockwood (1913-1995) was Bishop of Southwark (1959-1980), the term ‘South Bank Religion’ came into vogue in the 1960s and was associated with the Bishop and the Diocese and those in his theological circle.

Mervyn Stockwood was known for making unusual, radical, but successful appointments, including John Robinson, David Sheppard and Michael Marshall as his suffragan Bishops of Woolwich, and Hugh Montefiore and Keith Sutton as Bishops of Kingston.

Bishop Stockwood memorably appeared with Malcolm Muggeridge on the BBC’s Friday Night, Saturday Morning in 1979, arguing that the film Monty Python’s Life of Brian was blasphemous and telling John Cleese and Michael Palin they would ‘get [their] thirty pieces of silver.’

Bishop Stockwood was born in Wales, and became an Anglo-Catholic at All Saints’ Church, Clifton. He then studied theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and Westcott House, where he became a socialist. As the Vicar of Great Saint Mary’s, Cambridge, his sermons drew large numbers of undergraduates and earned him a national reputation.

The term ‘South Bank Religion’ was particularly associated with John Robinson’s Honest to God and Layman’s Church, a collection of essays introduced by Timothy (later Lord) Beaumont, and including essays from several of the figures associated with ‘South Bank Religion’, including John Robinson. Its cover features ‘Christ in Majesty’, made for Llandaff Cathedral in 1954-1955 by Jacob Epstein, who also sculpted ‘Saint Michael and the Devil’ (1956-1958) for the exterior of Coventry Cathedral.

I had a memorable taste of another brand of ‘South Bank Religion’ once at a day-long meeting of the trustees of the Anglican mission agency USPG in the offices in Southwark.

The offices are just a short walk from Southwark Cathedral, the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre on the South Bank. As the meeting opened, we were led in a Bible study of the same Gospel reading provided in the Lectionary today at the Eucharist (John 15: 9-11) and that continues our readings from the ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel:

9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

I was then invited to introduce a reading about the life of Peter Chanel (1803-1841), a 19th century French missionary and martyr in the South Pacific, who was clubbed to death on 28 April 1841.

One of his catechumens said of him: ‘He loves us; he does what he teaches; he forgives his enemies. His teaching is good.’

And that seems a perfect summary of what Christianity is about – whether it is branded as ‘South Bank Religion’, or Woke, or anything else. And it seems a perfect summary of what mission is about too.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

A taste of ‘South Bank Religion’? … Saint Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge seen from the South Bank (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 22 May 2025):

‘That We May Live Together: A Reflection from the Emerging Leaders Academy’ is the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Annsli Kabekabe of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 22 May 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord of peace, we pray for healing in Japan, where the scars of disaster run deep. May your grace guide efforts towards reconciliation, fostering forgiveness and rebuilding relationships rooted in empathy and understanding.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The altar in the Harvard Chapel in Southwark Cathedral was once the High Altar in Saint Saviour’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org