ANSTEY, a parish in Royston district, Herts; on Ermine-street, near the river Quin, 3½ miles NE of Buntingford, and 6½ SSE of Royston r. station. Post town, Buntingford. Acres, 2,170. Real property,-£3,194. Pop., 473. Houses, 93. A castle stood here upon a high rouud hill, said to have been erected, soon aftcr the Conquest, by Eustace, Earl of Boulogne; but was demolished, in the time of Henry III., "because it had been a nest of rebels." The moat which surrouuded it, and some works which were added in the time of King John, still remain. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £504.* Patron, Christ,s College, Cambridge. The church was built out of the materials of the casstle; and is cruciform and of mixed architecture, from Norman to debased. There are a P. Methodist chapel, a national school, and charities £8.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))