St Lawrence Church is an eighteenth-century, neoclassical church in

Ayot St Lawrence Ayot St Lawrence is a small English village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, west of Welwyn. There are several other ''Ayots'' in the area, including Ayot Green and Ayot St Peter, where the census population of Ayot St Lawrence was included ...

, Hertfordshire, England. It is also known as New St Lawrence Church to distinguish it from the ruined Old St Lawrence Church.

History

The church was commissioned by Sir Lionel Lyde, a merchant who had a country estate at Ayot St Lawrence. According to

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

, construction was financed with profits from the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. He intended this to replace the 'Old Church' which he had partly demolished because the latter obstructed the view from his Ayot House, his mansion. The architect was

Nicholas Revett Nicholas Revett (1720–1804) was a British architect. Revett is best known for his work with James "Athenian" Stuart documenting the ruins of ancient Athens. He is sometimes described as an amateur architect, but he played an important role in t ...

, the co-author of ''The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece'', a multi-volume publication which appeared from 1762. Revett had visited Greece to study its architectural heritage. One of the sources of inspiration for the church may have been a temple on the island of Delos.

Architecture and conservation

The style of the church has been described as

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

, although this is something of a misnomer as, in contrast to Revett, Palladio never visited Greece. Palladio was an expert on Roman architecture, and the Palladian style was derived only indirectly from Greek architecture. There is some debate as to how Revett's neoclassicism should be categorised.

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

is arguably not the ideal term, and some scholars prefer "Grecian revival". The front of the church with its portico and screens of columns is designed to be viewed from Ayot House, across a parkland setting.

Interior

The interior of the building has a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

plan. Because of the orientation of the building to face Ayot House, liturgical east and west do not coincide with geography. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

and altar are at the west end of the church. Despite the eye-catching facade, the church's interior is relatively small, having a capacity of about 120, which reflects the population of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

Conservation

The building has been Grade I listed since the 1960s.

Mausolea

On either side of the church is a mausoleum for Lionel Lyde and his wife Rachel. Lyde is alleged to have said of this arrangement that ‘since the Church united us in life, she can make amends by separating us in death’. The urns are raised on tall plinths and sheltered by aedicules.

References

External links

Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayot St L, New 18th-century Church of England church buildings Ayot Grade I listed churches in Hertfordshire Neoclassical architecture in Hertfordshire Mausoleums in England Buildings and structures in Ayot St Lawrence Neoclassical church buildings in England