Layston

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The formerly roofless St Bartholomew's Church near Buntingford, now converted to a house

Layston is a former village and ancient parish in the Edwintree Hundred of Hertfordshire, to the north-east of Buntingford. The parish includes much of Buntingford, with the remainder being shared between Aspenden, Throcking and Wyddial.

In 1931 the parish had a population of 724.[1] On 1 April 1937 the civil parish was abolished to create Buntingford civil parish, a part also going to form Hormead.[2]

Its former church, St Bartholomew's, became derelict but is the subject of a restoration project. People connected with the church include:

  • Thomas Crouch, who was baptised in St Bartholomew's in 1607
  • Robert Wogdon (January 1734 – 28 March 1813), founder of the gunsmith firm Wogdon & Barton, who was buried in the chancel with his wife, who had died in 1805
  • Rev. Jonathan Gilder and Mary Brazier, who were married there in 1759; their daughter Sarah, baptised there in 1767, became (posthumously) the maternal grandmother to New Zealand suffragette Catherine Fulton
  • Claud Lovat Fraser (15 May 1890 – 18 June 1921), who was buried in the churchyard.
  • Joseph Ironmonger Snoxell (1743-1810) of Stanmore, Middlesex, married Martha Moore (1740-1785) in the church on 15 November 1763. He owned or leased farms in Great and Little Stanmore, and Hatch End, Middx; Hitchin and Watford, Herts; and Barton, Cambridgeshire. Husband and wife are buried next to the ruined church at Stanmore, where there are memorials to them.

There is a state-funded primary school, Layston First CE School.

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