What used to be 2 villages, and a farm on a crossroads, have now merged into a small town with the gaps between them filled by houses. It is a popular place for commuters to live in as it is next to the M1\M18 motorways, and the A57 and is also the focus of many bus routes. Rother Valley and Ulley Country Parks lie on Aston's borders so it's certainly handy for those wishing to enjoy the numerous outdoor activities which they have to offer, including watersports, biking and walking.

At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) Aston was called Estone (East Farmstead) and Aughton was Hacstone (Oak-Tree Farmstead) and had a combined value of about £1. This was way down on their pre Norman invasion value of £3.50 (all of England was assessed as having a taxable value of £73,000). The Norman subjugation of England devastated it's economy in a way only matched by the black death some 300 years later, and that killed about 1/3 of the population of Europe. About 60 people lived here in 1066. In 1801 it was still only around 600. By 1871 it had leapt to 1,700 as coal mining and steel making drew in workers. In 1991 the parish population was circa 15000 but from the year 2000 this increased as a result of local housing developments.