Aust, South Gloucestershire

Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, about north of Bristol and about south west of Gloucester. It is located on the eastern side of the Severn estuary, close to the eastern end of the Severn Bridge, now part of the M48 motorway. The village has a chapel, a church and a public house. There is a large area of farmland on the river bank, which is sometimes flooded due to the high tidal range of the Severn. Aust Cliff, above the Severn, is located about from the village. The civil parish of Aust includes the villages of Elberton and Littleton-upon-Severn.HistoryOverviewAust, on the River Severn, was at one end of an ancient Roman road that let to Cirencester. Its name, Aust, may be one of the very few English place-names to be derived from the Latin Augusta.The name of Aust is recorded in 793 or 794 as Austan (terram aet Austan v manentes) when it was returned to the Church of Worcester after having been taken by King Offa's earl, Bynna. In Domesday, Aust Cliff was recorded as Austreclive, "clive" being a Middle English spelling of cliff. and the estate was held by Turstin FitzRolf in 1066. In 1368 the area was called Augst, "the short unmistakable form of Augusta.