Ayot St Lawrence is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, between Harpenden

Harpenden

Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....

 and Welwyn

Welwyn

Welwyn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands. It is sometimes called Old Welwyn to distinguish it from the newer settlement of Welwyn Garden City, about a mile to the south.-History:Situated in the valley of the...

. There are several other Ayots in the area, including Ayot Green

Ayot Green

Ayot Green is a small village in Hertfordshire, England and is near the A1 Motorway, close to Welwyn Garden City. It is a typical traditional English village, centred around a village green...

 and Ayot St Peter

Ayot St Peter

Ayot St Peter is a village and civil parish in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England, about two miles north-west of Welwyn Garden City. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 166. The village is near Ayot St Lawrence....

.

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

 lived in the village, at Shaw's Corner

Shaw's Corner

Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; now a historic National Trust property open to the public. Inside the house, the rooms remain much as Shaw left them, and the garden and Shaw's writing hut can also be visited...

, from 1906 until his death in 1950. The house is open to the public as a National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

 property.

Another resident of the village was the Shaws' friend, neighbour and bibliographer Stephen Winsten

Stephen Winsten

Stephen Winsten was the name adopted by Samuel Weinstein, one of the 'Whitechapel Boys' group of young Jewish men and future writers in London's East End in the years before World War I . In the First World War he was a conscientious objector, and imprisoned in Bedford and Reading gaols...

 and his wife, Claire.

The village has one pub

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

/inn, The Brocket Arms

The Brocket Arms

The Brocket Arms is a 14th century country inn in Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire. The Brocket Arms was originally the monastic quarters for the Norman church until the Reformation. It was a stop of point for pilgrims on their way to St Albans Abbey. It is said to be haunted by a priest who was...

, http://www.brocketarms.com/, which is reputed to be haunted. The pub was established in the 14th century. http://www.brocketarms.com/.

The village has two churches. The old one, in the centre of the village, was partially demolished in 1775, because it was obstructing the view from Sir Lionel Lyde's new home.

The new St Lawrence church was designed in a neo-classical style by Nicholas Revett

Nicholas Revett

Nicholas Revett was a Suffolk gentleman and amateur architect and artist.He is best known for his famous work with James Stuart documenting the ruins of ancient Athens. Its illustrations compose 5 folio volumes and include 368 etched and engraved plates, plans and maps drawn at scale...

 and features a Palladian

Palladian architecture

Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...

-style frontage with Doric

Doric order

The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...

columns.