BROADWATER HUNDRED 



AYOT ST. LAWRENCE 

 or GREAT AYOT 



AYOT ST. LAWRENCE or GREAT AYOT 



Aiete (xiii cent.) ; Ayete (xiv cent.) ; Eyott (xvi 



The parish of Ayot St. Lawrence has an area of 

 750 acres, of which about three-fifths are arable, about 

 200 acres grass, and over 100 acres wood. 1 The 

 greater part of the parish is about 300 ft, above the 

 ordnance datum, but rises to 400 ft. towards the 

 north-west, where the manor-house and park are 

 situated. The new church of St. Lawrence lies on 

 the western side of the park. The little River 

 Mimram or Maran forms the eastern boundary. 

 The subsoil is chalk and gravel, and the surface soil 

 is chalk. There is an old chalk-pit to the south of 

 the village and a disused gravel-pit to the east. 



The road from Wheathampstead to Codicote forms 

 the south-eastern boundary of the parish, but the 

 village of Ayot St. Lawrence is situated about a mile 

 to the north, and is reached by three branch roads, 

 of which the central one passes by Hill Farm. 



The village lies on the southern side of a winding 

 road, upon which stand the schoolhouse, a timber 

 and plaster house of the 17th century, and the 

 post office, a 16th or 17th-century brick and timber 

 cottage. The rectory, a modern house, contains 

 in a staircase window some 17th-century glass said to 

 have been taken from the old church. The glass is 

 heraldic, and shows shields of France modern quarter- 

 ing England with a label of three points argent ; 

 Bristowe ; and Bristowe impaling Bibbesworth and 

 Barley quartering possibly Skipwith (Gules three bars 

 or in chief a running greyhound argent). On the 

 opposite side of the road are the ruined church and 

 the grounds of Ayot House, the property of Mrs. 

 A. C. Ames, and now the residence of Mr. Roger 

 Cunliffe, J. P. In the park of Ayot House is the old 

 manor-house, a red brick building, the lower part of 

 which is probably of the 1 6th century. 



Them&norof jrOTST.LJfFRENCE 

 M A 'NOR was given by Alwin ofGodtoneorGottun, 

 in the time of King Edward the Con- 

 fessor, to the abbey of Westminster, and was con- 

 firmed to the abbey by that king about 1062. la Alwin 

 continued to hold Ayot assub-tenant of the abbey during 

 Edward's reign, but in 1086 it was held of Westminster 

 by Geoffrey de Mandeville, and assessed at z\ hides. 2 

 A portion of 9 acres in Ayot, which had been held 

 by Siward, a man of Alwin of Godtone, was in 1086 

 held of the king by the reeve of the hundred. 3 The 

 overlordship of Westminster apparently lapsed, for 

 direct possession seems to have been obtained by 

 the Mandevilles, who sub-enfeoffed a tenant before 

 the end of the 13th century. Geoffrey de Mande- 

 ville's lands descended through his son William to his 

 grandson Geoffrey de Mandeville, created first Earl 

 of Essex in 1 140.* The latter died in 1 144, and 

 his eldest son Ernulf being outlawed soon after, his 



! held of that 



earldom and estates were conferred upon his second 

 son Geoffrey, who died childless in 1166. H11 

 brother William, who suc- 

 ceeded him, also died without 

 issue in 1189, his nearest 

 heirs being the descendants 

 of his aunt Beatrice, the sister 

 of Geoffrey first Earl of 

 Essex. 6 This Beatrice, who 

 had married William de Say, 

 had two sons William and 

 Geoffrey, the elder of whom 

 predeceased his father, and left 

 two daughters Beatrice and Mammviixf, Earl of 



Maud. 6 The earldom of *««. Q"<">"'> " <"< J 

 Essex was eventually conferred & "' 

 upon Beatrice's husband 



Geoffrey Fitz Piers, and was held in turn by their 

 two sons Geoffrey and William, who both took the 

 name of Mandeville and died childless before 1227. 

 Their sister Maud, to whom their title and estates 

 then passed, married Henry de Bohun sixth Earl of 

 Hereford, and Ayot St. Lawrence w. 

 earldom until its extinction on 

 the death of Humphrey de 

 Bohun, twelfth earl, in 1373. 7 

 His lands then passed to his 

 elder daughter Eleanor, wife 

 of Thomas of Woodstock, 

 who was murdered in 1397. 8 

 Eleanor died in 1399,^ and 

 the overlordship of Ayot St. 

 Lawrence passed to her sister 

 Mary, the wife of Henry 



Duke of Lancaster, who in Bohun. Azure a 



the same year became king bend argent bet-ween te- 

 as Henry IV, 10 and h- nee his '"" a " d " x Iio *' "• 

 lands were merged in the 



Crown. In 1489 Ayot St. Lawrence was said to be 

 held of the king as of the honour of Mandeville, parcel 

 of the duchy of Lancaster, by service of a sparrow-hawk 

 at the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula yearly, or pay- 

 ment of 2J. 11 



The first sub-tenant of the manor to be recorded 

 is William de Ayot, who is mentioned in 1253 as the 

 son of Roger de Ayot, 13 and was certainly lord of the 

 manor in 1257." He held the office of king's 

 steward, 14 and appears among the witnesses of many 

 documents up to the year 1291. In 1303 the 

 manor, consisting of half a knight's fee, was held 

 by his heirs, who were under age, 16 and in 1346 

 by Lawrence de Ayot 16 and Joan his wife, who in 

 1347 granted it to Thomas, parson of the church of 

 Ayot, for a settlement. 17 Lawrence died in 1353 

 and was succeeded by his son William, who was 

 in prison for felony in the Bishop of Winchester's 



I. Inq. He*. VU, \ 



li Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, ¥■ 474- 

 H Ibid. 1 2 57- 1 300, p. 496. 

 « Feud. Aids, ii, 429. i« Ibid. 436. 



17 Feet ofF. Div. Co. Hil. 21 Edw. Ill, 



