Ayot St Lawrence

Ayot St Lawrence is a small English village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, between Harpenden and Welwyn. There are several other Ayots in the area, including Ayot Green and Ayot St Peter, where the census population of Ayot St Lawrence was included in 2011.

Ayot St Lawrence
Ayot St. Lawrence village centre
Ayot St Lawrence Location within Hertfordshire
OS grid reference	TL195165
District	Welwyn Hatfield
Shire county	Hertfordshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WELWYN
Postcode district	AL6
Dialling code	01438
Police	Hertfordshire
Fire	Hertfordshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Welwyn Hatfield

Heritage

George Bernard Shaw lived in the village, at Shaw's Corner, from 1906 until his death in 1950; his ashes are scattered there.[1][2] The house is open to the public as a National Trust property.[3]

Other residents of the village included Shaw's friend, neighbour and bibliographer Stephen Winsten (1893–1991) and his wife, the artist Clare Winsten (1894–1989).

During the 1950s, the silk-maker Zoe Dyke (1896–1975) moved her business to Ayot House.[4] The historical novelist, biographer and children's writer Carola Oman, Lady Lenanton (1897–1978) lived at Bride Hall with her husband. She died there on 11 June 1978.[5]

Amenities

The village has a timber-framed public house, The Brocket Arms, which may date back to the early 16th century.[6] It also offers meals and accommodation.[7]

The old Norman church, in March 2010

The village has two churches:

• Old St Lawrence Church, in the centre of the village, was partially demolished in 1775, because it was obstructing the view from Sir Lionel Lyde's new home.[8]

Field Marshal Frederick Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan (1865–1946), a British Army officer and Chief of the Imperial General Staff, is buried in the churchyard.

• New St Lawrence Church was designed in a neo-classical style by Nicholas Revett[9] and features a Palladian-style frontage with Doric columns.

References

1. "Shaw's Corner". Archived from the original on 8 March 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
2. "Open house at Shaw's Corner". The Welwyn and Hatfield Times. 6 September 2009. Archived from the original on 24 August 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
3. "Ayot Saint Lawrence". Hertfordshire Genealogy. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
4. John Martin, "Dyke, (Millicent) Zoë, Lady Dyke (1896–1975)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2007 accessed 12 July 2017
5. Mark Bostridge: "Oman, Carola Mary Anima (married name Carola Mary Anima Lenanton, Lady Lenanton)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
6. "The Brocket Arms, Ayot St Lawrence". Mysterious Britain. Archived from the original on 24 September 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
7. "The Brocket Arms". Retrieved 25 November 2018.
8. "Van Gogh walked here". St Albans & Harpenden Review. 4 February 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
9. "Parishes – Ayot St. Lawrence or Great Ayot". British History Online. Retrieved 6 February 2009.

Gallery

• 
  Shaw's Corner
• 
  Ruins of the old Church

External links

• Ayot [St Lawrence] in the Domesday Book