EDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



LAYSTON 



fine 1 2th-century ironwork. It is of two square 

 panels in height, each panel filled with interlacing 

 work formed of strip iron, with tendrils in the spaces. 

 The designs differ slightly in detail and in the lower 

 panel is the figure of a bird ; on each side is a 

 vertical border with tendrils and above are fragments 

 of similar ornament. Portions of the ironwork have 

 gone, but most of it remains and is being protected 

 as far as possible from the weather. In the south 

 wall is a window of 1 5th-century date of two cinque- 

 foiled lights with tracery under a square head. The 

 wall east of this may contain another blocked window, 

 as there are indications of a disturbance in the plaster. 

 The south doorway is of I zth-century date, with 

 plain round arch and square jambs with splayed 

 impost. The two-light west window is modern ; 

 above it in the gable is a circular opening with 

 quatrefoil cusping. The nave roof retains some old 

 plain tie-beams and portions of brackets beneath them. 

 Over the chancel arch are the royal arms of Charles II, 

 dated mdclx. The south porch is a very plain 

 structure of brick erected in the i8th century. In 

 the north-east angle is a plain round-headed stoup 

 with splayed edges. The wooden bell-turret is 

 modern. 



The font is of oolite and dates from the early part 

 of the 14th century. It has an octagonal bowl 

 moulded underneath ; on each face are circular 

 cusped panels containing roses or leaf ornament 

 alternating with arched panels filled with tracery, 

 that on the east face containing a fleur de lis. 



There are two bells : one, now on the floor of 

 the church, is inscribed ' Sancta Margareta ora pro 

 nobis ' ; it is undated. The other bell is in the 

 belfry, and bears neither date nor inscription. 



The communion plate is used at Great Hormead 

 Church and has already been described. 



The registers before 1 8 1 2 are as follows : (i) bap- 

 tisms, burials and marriages 1588 to 1679 ; (ii) bap- 

 tisms and burials 1679 to 1 81 2, marriages 1679 to 

 ■753 ; (iii) marriages 1754 to 181 1. 



The advowson as a general rule 

 JDFOfFSON was held with the manor." It was, 

 however, excepted from the life 

 grant of the manor made by Denise de Monchensey 

 to Richard le Botiller in 1268,*' and in 1 5 17 pre- 

 sentation was made by Robert Shirton and others, 

 in 1555 by John Gibbs and others, in 1646 by 

 (Catherine Young, in 1 678 by Roger Woodcock 

 and Stephen Broughton, and in 17 19 by Charles 

 Crowch,^'' none of whom, apparently, held the manor. 

 By 1730 the advowson had been bought by St. John's 

 College, Cambridge.^' In 1886 the rectory of 

 Little Hormead was amalgamated with the living of 

 Great Hormead by Order in Council. It is in the 

 gift of St. John's College, Cambridge, at the present day. 

 In 1665 Pierce Powel by his will 

 CHARITIES devised an annuity of 20s., whereof 

 he willed 1 5/. to be given to the poor 

 and 5/. for keeping his grave covered with turf. 



The Town Acre. — In an old register of the parish, 

 under date 171 3, it is stated that there is an acre of 

 arable land lying in Jeffries' Field given for the use 

 of the poor, the rent issuing therefrom to be given at 

 the communion table in the church on the Sunday 

 after Michaelmas Day in every year. The land is 

 let at 10s. a year, and the rent, less tithe, is accumu- 

 lated and applied from time to time in the distribu- 

 tion of bread. 



In 1824 John Wall Porter, by his will proved in 

 the P.C.C. 21 January, directed his residuary estate 

 to be invested in consols and the dividends to be 

 applied at Midsummer and Christmas in the distribu- 

 tion of bread and clothing among poor and needy 

 persons, inhabitants of the parish, with power to apply 

 j^io a year in putting out a poor boy apprentice to 

 any trade or business. The trust fund amounted to 

 ^1,932 18/. Ill/, consols, producing ^^48 6s. /\.d. 

 yearly, which is administered under the provisions of 

 a scheme of 2 4 May 1 8 8 1 . By an order of the Charity 

 Commissioners of 12 July 1904 the sum of ^4°° 

 consols has been set aside as an educational foundation. 



LAYSTON 



Leofstanechirche (xii cent.) ; Lestoncherche (xiv 

 cent.) ; Leyston (xv cent.). 



At the time of the Domesday Survey the area now 

 comprised by the parish of Layston appears under the 

 names of Alswick, Ichetone and Alfladewick. In 

 1086 Alswick probably already had a church of its 

 own. The building of another church a little to the 

 east of Ermine Street at some date before the middle 

 of the 1 2th century seems to have made Alfladewick 

 an ecclesiastical parish (to which Alswick was after- 

 wards subordinated as a chapelry) and to have obtained 

 for it the alternative name of Lestanchurch.^ In 1 341 

 the name of the parish is recorded as ' Lestanchurch 

 called Alfladewyk.'^ Gradually the earlier name was 

 entirely superseded by the other, and Lestanchurch 

 corrupted into Layston remained the name of the 

 parish.^ 



The parish of Layston now contains 1,433 acres, 

 having been diminished by the Divided Parishes Act 

 of March 1883, under which detached portions of 

 the parish were transferred to Wyddial, Aspenden 

 and Throcking. It consists chiefly of arable land. 

 About one-quarter only is permanent grass and there 

 is very little woodland.* 



The River Rib flows through the parish, entering 

 it in the north-west, and for a short distance forms 

 its western boundary. In the valley of the Rib the 

 land averages 300 ft. above the ordnance datum, 

 rising in the east to a height of 407 ft. Ermine 

 Street forms the western boundary of Layston, except 

 for a short distance where the boundary line makes a 

 detour to the west and follows the River Rib. At 

 the point where Ermine Street crosses the river it is 

 joined by the road from Great Hormead, which. 



*^ See references under manor. 

 " Feet of F. Div. Co. 52 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 14. 



^® See Cussans, op. cit. p. 78. 

 " Ibid. ; »ee Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



' It may be suggested that the original 

 church at Alswick was of timber and the 

 masonry church of Alfladewick therefore 

 became known in distinction as the stone 

 church. 



77 



2 Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 432. 

 ^ See also above under account of 

 hundred. 



* Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



