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Old St Lawrence Church, Ayot St Lawrence

Buildings and structures in Ayot St LawrenceChurch ruins in EnglandChurchyards in EnglandCommonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in EnglandGrade II* listed churches in Hertfordshire
Ruins in Hertfordshire
IMG 0235 Church Ayot St. Lawrence
IMG 0235 Church Ayot St. Lawrence

Old St Lawrence Church is a ruined building in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England. It is protected as a Grade II* listed building, and dates back to the 12th century.The building was partially demolished in 1775 by Sir Lionel Lyde, 1st Baronet, who had acquired a country home, Ayot House, close by. It was replaced as the village's parish church by new St Lawrence Church, a neoclassical structure which Lyde had built on a site slightly further from his house. The last baptism to take place at Old St Lawrence Church was on the 21st February 1773 for Susan George. New St Lawrence Church was consecrated in 1779.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Old St Lawrence Church, Ayot St Lawrence (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Old St Lawrence Church, Ayot St Lawrence
Hill Farm Lane, Welwyn Hatfield Ayot St Lawrence

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Wikipedia: Old St Lawrence Church, Ayot St LawrenceContinue reading on Wikipedia

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N 51.837738 ° E -0.267306 °
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Old Church (remains of)

Hill Farm Lane
AL6 9BU Welwyn Hatfield, Ayot St Lawrence
England, United Kingdom
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IMG 0235 Church Ayot St. Lawrence
IMG 0235 Church Ayot St. Lawrence
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Nearby Places

Shaw's Corner
Shaw's Corner

Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; it is now a National Trust property open to the public as a writer's house museum. Inside the house, the rooms remain much as Shaw left them, and the garden and Shaw's writing hut can also be visited. The house is an Edwardian Arts and Crafts-influenced structure situated in the small village of Ayot St Lawrence, in Hertfordshire, England. It is 6 miles from Welwyn Garden City and 5 miles from Harpenden. Built as the new rectory for the village during 1902, the house was the home of playwright George Bernard Shaw from 1906 until his death in 1950. It was designed by a local firm of architects, Smee, Mence & Houchin, and local materials were used in its construction. The Church of England decided that the house was too large for the size of the parish, and let it instead. Shaw and his wife Charlotte Payne-Townshend relocated in 1906, and eventually bought the house and its land in 1920, paying £6,220. At the same time the garden was extended and Shaw bought land from his friend Apsley Cherry-Garrard, bringing the total to 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres). Shaw is known to have written many of his major works in a secluded, home-built revolving hut located at the bottom of his garden. The tiny structure of only 64 square feet (5.9 m2), was built on a central steel-pole frame with a circular track so that it could be rotated on its axis to follow the arc of the Sun's light during the day. Shaw dubbed the hut "London", so that unwanted visitors could be told he was away "visiting the capital".After Shaw's and his wife's deaths, their ashes were taken to Shaw's Corner, mixed and then scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden. In 1967 the house was designated a Grade II* listed building.

St Helen's Church, Wheathampstead
St Helen's Church, Wheathampstead

St Helen's Church is the oldest church in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, although the date of its origins is unknown. The wooden Anglo-Saxon structure pre-dated the Norman conquest of England, but no records survive which establish the date upon which it was founded. It is a Grade I listed building.Restoration was begun during the early part of the 13th century, the original Saxon church having become dilapidated. The Normans rebuilt and lengthened the chancel in around 1238. The east window triple lancets which still survive in the structure today date from this time as do the window and doorway with its dog-tooth decoration on the north side of the sanctuary. However, from the Lincoln Cathedral Registry—Wheathampstead fell with the See of Lincoln until 1845—the building of the central tower dates to about 1290 AD, which is the first definitive date that can be ascribed to the church. St. Helen's is built of flint rubble, or Totternhoe clunch, with flint facings and limestone dressings. There being no stone of this type in the area, it is thought that the medieval builders used stone from the Midland quarries shipped down the Great Ouse to Bedford and from there conveyed by horse and cart along the Roman roads to Wheathampstead. Within the church is a statue dedicated to the memory of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, the polar explorer, who is buried in the north-west corner of the churchyard. Also buried in the churchyard is British journalist, author and WWI correspondent William Beach Thomas.