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Royston
Located in the north of the district close to the Cambridgeshire border, Royston is a busy market town. The first market rights were granted in 1189 and the market survives to this day. The town has several historical buildings and an unusual man-made cave with medieval carvings. Royston has grown up at the intersection of the Icknield Way and the Roman Ermine Street. In Johnson Matthey Royston has one of the major manufacturing installations in the County.
Royston, situated on the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, offers much of the individual character of a traditional market town. Until the end of the 19th century it straddled the border, but adjustments corrected this and Royston was completely in Hertfordshire. However, housing and industrial development to the north and west of the town in recent years again resulted in Royston expanding into Cambridgeshire, a situation now rectified by moving the boundary to the northern by-pass.
It was nearly 2,000 years ago that the Romans built Ermine Street running north from London to their great legionary forts at York and Lincoln. It became one of the most important Roman roads in the country, and Royston has grown up at its intersection with Icknield Way, another Roman road on the line of the prehistoric highway along the chalk ridge from Salisbury Plain and on into East Anglia.
Soon after the Norman Conquest a Lady Roisia (the name means rose) erected a wayside cross at the intersection and a settlement, which became known as Roisia's Cross, grew up. In time it changed to Roisia's Town and so later to Royston. The stone which formed the base of the cross now stands adjacent to the ancient cross-roads.
A few yards away is the entrance to the famous Royston Cave, a bell-shaped chamber hewn from the chalk below Melbourn Streem which is part of the old Icknield Way. As far as is known this cave is unique in Britain if not the world. Its origin is unknown, but the carvings on the walls are clearly mediaeval and most of them have religious significance. The circular cave, rediscovered in 1742, has a circumferential octagonal podium which supports the theory that it may have been used by the Knights Templar before their Proscription by the Pope in the 14th century, but all such theories are speculative. The cave is open to the public in the afternoons of Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays from Easter until the end of September. A broadsheet guide and postcards are available. Parties can be shown round by arrangement either with the Town Clerk or the Local History Society.
A priory of the Order of St. Augustine (the Black Canons) was set up in late 12th century, and King Richard I granted the monks the first market rights in 1189. This "selling market on Wednesday in every week at Roys Cross" has survived through the ages. When the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII in 1535 the priory became the Parish Church. It is dedicated to St. John the Baptist.
Royston was an important town during the reign of King James I. On his journey south from Scotland to London, after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, he stopped here to hunt for three days, and returned to Royston thereafter as often as the cares of state permitted. His hunting lodge in Kneesworth Street is now known as the Old Palace. Many of the other large buildings in the centre of the town were the homes of the nobles at the King's court. The desk at which King James signed the death warrant of Sir Walter Raleigh is still preserved at the Old Palace.
Royston has the first turnpike road, from Wadesmill to Caxton, passing through it. Dick Turpin is reputed to have operated along this road and to have stabled his horse in the town.
At the turn of the 19th century there were nearly 50 public houses in Royston, now reduced to nine, including to hotels. The oldest of these is the Bull Hotel, a coaching inn dating back to before 1520.
A few years ago, Royston was principally a market town relying on farming and associated agricultural industries, but in recent years there has been a marked influx of light industry, including precious metal smelting. This industrial growth has been paralleled by the development of housing in both public and private sectors.
The growth of the town has been influenced by its good road and rail connections. The railway from Kings Cross to Cambridge via Royston is now electrified. From Royston the main roads A10, A14 and A505 lead to Cambridge and London, Huntingdon and the North, Hitchin and Newmarket respectively.
Perhaps Royston's greatest pride are the town centre's Priory Memorial Gardens dedicated in 1953, having been bought and laid out by public subscription as a memorial to those who gave their lives during the Second World War. In the centre of the Gardens was a fountain dedicated in 1963 to the American Airmen of the 91 st Bomb Group (H) who were based in Bassingbourn. This has since been replaced by a granite obelisk which was rededicated in July 1989.
Prominent Royston characters have included Henry Andrews, the original compiler of Old Moore's Almanack, who is buried in the churchyard; Thomas Cartwright, the founder of Presbyterianism in England, born in Royston; Joseph Towne, medical sculptor and modeller of genius, whose wax models stand in the museum of Guy's Hospital in London, was also born in Royston, the son of the dissenting minister Thomas Towne.
At one time the hooded crow (corvus comix) was so common in the district that it became known as the Royston Crow. Cromwell's Roundheads derided the inhabitants after a brawl with local Cavalier sympathisers and called them "Crows" and the name has remained. The local newspaper, The Herts. & Cambs. Reporter, is known locally as the Royston Crow. Local sports teams - football, rugby and hockey - for this reason use black and white as their colours depicting the plumage of the hooded crow.
