A massive ring, dug up nearby, was once claimed as the saint’s but experts are adamant that it belonged to a 16th century merchant.

But what isn’t in dispute is that this has always been an important crossing of the tricky and turbulent River Severn.

It’s centuries old importance was only diminished with the building of a railway tunnel by the GWR in 1886.

The arrival of the M4 and the opening of the first Severn Bridge, however, meant that much of Aust, including the church, became cut off from the riverside.

A fast rotting wooden slipway is all that remains of a busy ferry boat operation which carried its last cars and passengers over the river to Beachley in September 1966 - the month that first Severn Bridge was opened by the Queen.

And not much remains either of the old wooden cafe and turnstile where Bob Dylan famously had his picture taken just a few months before the ferry’s closure.

The ferry boats, the much loved Severn King, Severn Queen and the Severn Princess, saved motorists a 60 mile round trip via Gloucester.

The large expanse of level turf alongside the river here, the Warth, was where the celebrated Waterloo Cup horse races were held in days gone by.

It’s hard to imagine today.

Aust’s Old Passage House, now in private ownership, was once an inn for coach passengers awaiting the ferry to South Wales.

It’s said that Irish cattle drovers once slept in the attics as they rested before making their way to Bristol market.

Cliff Cottage, a white house on the cliff’s edge, is the only survivor of several cottages and another old inn that have, along with the crumbling cliff, fallen into the river.

Aust’s turnpike house, however, is still intact, as is the Boar’s Head, the sole survivor of seven inns and numerous cider houses that once helped slake the thirst of both villagers and ferry passengers.

St Mary’s might be a plain little church, much rebuilt, buts its octagonal 15th-century font, very similar to one in Chepstow church across the water, is graceful and delicately-carved.

On the north wall is a monument to one - time Lord of the Manor, Sir Samuel Astry, a coroner and attorney of the King’s Bench who died in 1704.

A charity based at the church organises regular mediaeval and early music events.

Before you leave have a look around the churchyard.

Here you will find the victims of many ferry disasters – such as the passengers and crew of the packet Jane which went down with all hands on some notorious rocks, The Benches, in a sudden squall in 1839.

Or the seven people who were drowned when the Despatch hit a submerged post in the ferry pier and sank.

Seven other passengers were saved by grabbing the tails of strong swimming cattle.

A long concrete path from near the ferry slipway will take you to a small beach under the bridge and below the cliffs.

If you like fossils then this is the place to come as frequent erosion of the cliffs leads to new discoveries.

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