249 



33. — lElSCELLANEOrS XoTES AXD ObSEUYATIOXS. 

 [Read 12th June, 1879.] 



Geology. 



On a Boulder now in the Garden of the Hoi/sfon Institute. — 

 There is no evidence to show the exact locality from which 

 the boulder now in the garden of the Royston Institute was 

 obtained when first utilised by man, but there seems no doubt 

 that it has formed the footstone of a cross from very early times. 

 An extract from a diary extending from 1786 to 1811 is as 

 follows: — "1786, June 3. E,oy-stone, Royston, was removed 

 from the Cross to the Market Hill, by order of G. AVortham, 

 surveyor." 



The stone was moved on the 28lh April, 1856, to its present 

 position on a low brick pedestal in the garden of the Royston 

 Institute. In connexion with the establishment of the Institute 

 an exhibition was held in that building in May, 1856, and 

 amongst the objects exhibited was this "Footstone of the old 

 Royston Cross," with the following particulars: — "This is the 

 most venerable monument in the place. Its age cannot be exactly 

 ascertained, but not improbably it belonged to Saxon times. It 

 certainly existed before Royston was a town, and was a guide or 

 direction to travellers over the open heath. It formerly stood on 

 the spot still called The Cross, which was the point of junction of 

 the two Roman military roads, the Ermen Street, and the Icknield 

 Way." The compiler of this catalogue was certainly correct in 

 calling this stone the most venerable monument in the place, 

 although he probably assumed for it no very great antiquity as 

 compared with that of the age of ice, to which the geologist looks 

 back. To the geologist the stone is but a mark of the glacial 

 period. Its dimensions are 4ft. 8in., by 3ft. 6in., by 2ft. 2in. It 

 is of irregular shape, well worn, and the angles rounded off. On 

 its upper face is a hole, in which the upright portion of the cross 

 was probably fixed. The material is Millstone-grit, of which 

 many of the boulders found in this neighbourhood are composed. 

 "We may assume that the boulder was deposited in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of its present position by ice, as it is improbable 

 that the founders of the cross would have moved it any great 

 distance. 



Although boulders are fairly common in the neighbouring 

 villages, there are none that equal this in size ; one in Ashwell 

 of a similar material is 3ft., by 2ft. 6in., by 1ft. 6in., and another 

 at Bygrave, of fine yellowish compact sandstone, is 3ft., by 2ft., by 

 2ft., and now lies 300 feet above sea-level. The Royston boulder 

 may therefore claim to be unique, both as regards size and his- 

 torical importance, as far as the district in which it stands is 

 concerned. — JI. George Fordhani, Odsey. 



