Place:Layston, Hertfordshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

Layston was an ancient parish in Hertfordshire, England. The town of Buntingford grew up on the edge of the parish and in 1937 Layston was abolished and a new parish of Buntingford created.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Layston from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"LAYSTON, a parish in Royston [registration] district, Herts; ¾ of a mile E of Buntingford [railway] station. It was known, at Domesday, as Ichetone; it had a village which, for some time, was a market town; and it now contains part of the town of Buntingford. Post town: Buntingford. Acres: 2,208. Real property: £4,777. Population in 1851: 1,220; in 1861: 998. Houses: 223. The decrease of population arose from the demolition or abandonment of dwelling houses, and from reduction of the number of inmates in Buntingford workhouse. The manor belongs to W. Butt, Esq. The living is a vicarage, united with the [perpetual] curacy of Buntingford, in the diocese of Rochester. Value: £300. Patron: W. Butt, Esq. The church is a plain building, with a tower; contains several tablets and monuments; and is used only in the summer months, and for marriages."

Research Tips

• Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, Register Office Block CHR002, County Hall, Hertford SG13 8EJ. Indexes and Catalog
• GENUKI on Hertfordshire (individual parishes covered separately)
• Hertfordshire Family History Society
• Edwinstree Hundred is not covered in the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire as provided by British History Online.
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time