AYOT ST. LAWRENCE (2½ miles N.E. from Wheathampstead Station and about
the same distance N.W. from Ayot Station, G.N.R.) has a new and an old
church. The former is in Ayot Park, and was designed by Revett in a
classical style. Note (1) the _Eastern_ portico, with colonnade on
either side; (2) the memorial to Sir Lionel Lyde, Bart. (d. 1791), and
to the architect of the church (d. 1804). The earlier structure, still
in ruins near the middle of the village, was Dec. of an early period,
with several singular features; the tower, however, was Perp. "The
Windows ... have been adorn'd with curious Pictures, in stained and
painted Glass, beyond many other Churches." The village has at different
times been styled Eye, Aiot, Great Aiot, and Ayot St. Lawrence, and was
a parcel of the property of Harold Godwin. _Ayot House_, standing in a
beautiful park of 200 acres, was once the property and residence of Sir
William Parr, brother to Catherine Parr, Queen of Henry VIII. A room in
an older building in the rear of the present mansion was once, according
to local tradition, the prison of Catherine Parr. There are shoes at
Ayot House which belonged to Anne Boleyn and a hat of Henry VIII.

AYOT ST. PETER'S (¼ mile N. from Ayot Station, G.N.R.) lies in a pretty
district watered by the rivers Maran and Lea. The village is small, but
has a commodious Parish Room, containing a small library. There was a
mill here in the time of the Great Survey, the rent of which was three
shillings and 200 eels from the mill-pool per annum. A church, bearing
"a short spire erected upon the tower," stood on the hill-top in
Chauncy's day; in 1751 an octagonal structure of red brick was built by
the rector (Dr. Freeman) some distance from the village. This church was
demolished in 1862 and a new one built upon its site; in 1874 this
was in turn destroyed by lightning, and in 1875 the present church of
St. Peter, E.E. in style, was erected much nearer to the village. It