AYOTT (ST-LAWRENCE), a parish in the hundred of BROADWATER, county of HERTFORD, 3 miles (w. by N.) from Welwyn, containing 160 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £8. 13. 4., and in the patronage of Lionel Lyde, Esq. The church, dedicated to]St. Lawrence, is a neat modern brick edifice, with a handsome portico of stone, of the Doric order: it was erected in 1787, at an expense of £6000, by Sir Lionel Lyde, from a design by Revett, the celebrated Italian architect. The ruins of the old church, a quarter of a mile distant, are considerable, and under the belfry of its embattled tower there is an altar-tomb, with recumbent figures of a knight and his lady. This place was anciently in the possession of King Harold. Dane-End, near Ayott, owes its name to a signal defeat of the Danes by King Ethelwulph.