History and Antiquities of the Country of Hertford Icheton,

Lefstanchirche otherwise Layston Vol III pages 427 to 438

morrow of St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles, the 29th and 30th days of June, and the other on the 30th of November, on the day and morrow of the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, rendering to the King 13s. I0d. every year, to be paid to the Sheriff of the County at the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. He further also granted, that the Lord Audley and his heirs, should yearly choose two men out of the tenants and inhabit¬ants, who should govern the market and fairs, and should receive and account for the profits of them to six other tenants and inhabitants of the town, when the said Lord Audley and his heirs, Lords of the Manor, should choose; so that the profit and issues of the market and fairs should be paid to the King, for the public good of the town, at the discretion of Thomas Lord Audley and his heirs, and the major part of the honest men of the town and tenants of the Manor, to be expended so often as should be needful (y).

At the South end of the town is a Chapel of brick, which was built between the years 1614 and 1621, by Alexander Strange, Vicar of Layston, out of the voluntary contribu¬tion of the inhabitants, because Layston Church stood alone in the fields, and inconveniently to such as wished to repair thereto(z).

In this Chapel are the following monumental inscriptions:

Near this place lye the remains of the
Rev. Samuel Collins, M. A. Vicar of this Parish ;
and also Mary his wife, both of antient families
near the Clee Hills in Shropshire. He died
April 16th 1762 ; she died June 9th, 1767.

Johannes Turner, Vicar de Layston. Natus primo Martii, 1603, quem animum, aetatis agens, oblit loquitur sepultus.

In a window of this Chapel this inscription :

This window was made and finished at the only charges of William and Mary Reynolds, the sonne and daughter of Jewes Reynolds, somtyme Vicar of Laystone, 1622.

Arms above : Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Argent, a chevron, between three black birds, each with an Ermine spot in his beak, Sable ; 2d and 3d, Or, a lion passant guardant Gules. Crest, a black bird, with an Ermine spot in his beak.

The following is recorded by Chauncy :

Novissimae sub hoc marmore sonitum tubae opperiuntur exuviae Alexandri Strange, Theologiae Baccalaurei, hujusque parochiae nuper Vicarii, qui, cum 46 annos in populo crudiendo paceque inter litigantes concilianda consumpsisset, cumque inter alia pia molimina hoc Dei domicilium instaurari curasset, 8 decem aetat. ann. nat. Domini 1550, coelebs occubuit.
Moerens posuit J. M.

On the South side of the street are the almshouses founded by Dr. Seth Ward, which are built of brick, and consist of three sides of a quadrangle, upon which, is the following inscription:

Anno Domini 1684.
This Hospital was erected and endowed
By Seth Ward, Doctor of Divinity,
Lord Bishop of Salisbury, and
Chancellor of the most noble Order
of the Garter.
Who was born in this town, within the
parish of Aspeden, and educated
in the Free-school of Buntingford.

(y) Chauncy's Hist. Antiq. of Herts, p. 131. (z) Fuller's Worthies p 224.

Select page number:  Page 432