A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



into a single urban district lying entirely within the 

 county of Hertford." 



The intersection of the roads in the centre of the 

 town is still called ' the Cross.' In the garden of the 

 town hall in Melbourn Street is preserved a large 

 boulder of Red Millstone Grit, weighing approxi- 

 mately two tons, supposed to be the base of a cross 

 removed from the cross roads. It has a square 

 socket on its upper surface, probably for a cross. 18 

 Beside it are two fragments of a stone coffin-lid with 

 a cross on the face removed from 'Chapel Field' in 

 Kneesworth Street. Under the old butter market, 

 which stood in the middle of the Icknield Wav, now 

 the west end of Melbourn Street, a little south-east 

 of the Cross, a cave hollowed out of the chalk was 

 discovered in 17+2." It was then partly filled 

 with earth. Dr. William Stukeley, Secretary of 

 the Society of Antiquaries, conjectured that the 

 cave was the oratory of the 'Lady Rose,' wife of 

 Geoffrey de Man device. 10 His romance was rudely 

 destroyed by the Rev. Charles Parkin, who main- 

 tained that the excavation was of Saxon origin. 31 A 

 heated argument followed," but the origin and use of 

 the cave remain uncertain. In mediaeval times it 

 was evidently used for religious purposes, and the fact 

 that a hermit lived at Royston about 1 506 has led to 

 the supposition that it became a hermitage." It 

 may be identical with the ' Hermitage' in the parish 

 of Barkway acquired by Sir Robert Chester after its 

 suppression. "' The cave is a large dome-shaped 

 hole, about 28 ft. deep and 17 ft. in diameter at 

 the bottom, cut out of the solid chalk. It is venti- 

 lated by a small grating in the pavement above. 

 In 1790 the present passage was cut to the cave 

 through the chalk. The walls of the cave are 

 rudely sculptured with figures in low relief, among 

 which are figures of St. Christopher, St. Katherinc, 

 the Cross of St. Helena, the Holy Family, Conver- 



sion of St. Paul, 

 to have been a 

 period, the 



othei 



Th, 



i 3 th 



an upper story 

 lis having been 

 The figures w 



vas filled " 



the 

 back 



ere appears 



obably carved 



that the cave was filled in during the 1 6th century 

 when the lord of the manor 'buylded up in the 

 myddest of Ickncll Streate ... a fayer House or 

 Crosse . . . for a clockhowsc and a Pryson Howse." 1 

 It would seem probable that the market-place, 

 around which the early town would naturally be 

 formed, originally occupied the widened part of 

 Ermine Street to the north and south of the point 

 where the Icknield Way crosses it. As in other 



earls* date covered by permanent stalls and then by 

 shops till these buildings divided it into two streets 

 and became known as early as the 1 6th century as 

 Middle Row. The western street in its southern 

 part was called later Dead Street and afterwards Back 

 Street." The present market-place is on sloping 

 ground east of the High Street and south of the 

 church and site of the priory. 



In 1 1 89 Richard I granted to the priory the right 

 to hold a market at Royston and to have a fair there 

 throughout Whitsun week and a market on the 

 fourth day of each week with court of pie-powder and 

 all the customs of the fair of Dunstable." Another 

 fair to be held on the eve and day of the translation 

 of St. Nicholas (May 8-9) was granted to the hospital 

 of St. Nicholas on 2 January 1212— 13," and was 

 probably held in the Cambridgeshire portion of the 

 town, where the hospital was situated." In 1236 it 

 was converted into a three days' fair on the eve, day 

 and morrow of the same feast.' 3 It probably became 

 extinct with the hospital, which had ceased to exist 

 before 1359. 50 In 1242 Henry III granted to the 

 Prior of Royston another fair to be held on the vigil 

 and feast of St. Thomas the Martyr (July 6-7), the 

 patron saint of his house." 



From the first the situation of the town on the cross- 

 roads in the midst of the barley-growing country must 

 have caused the markets and fairs to prosper. In 1 29 1 

 they were valued at £y 13/. 4.-?." In 1223 and 

 1226 the maximum price of wine was fixed at a 

 higher rate in Royston than elsewhere, owing to 

 the distance of the town from the coast." The 

 prior made good his right to the market and to 

 the fairs at Whitsuntide and the feast of St. Thomas 

 in 1278." The prior had been involved in dis- 

 putes with the Abbot of Westminster and the 

 Master of the Knights Templars, who claimed 

 exemption from toll in all English markets. In 

 1 247-8 the abbot pleaded the charters of Edward the 

 Confessor and William I against the claims of the 

 prior. 35 The dispute with the Templars, who owned 



property 



Templar* 



Royston, 3 '' began in 1 199 and wa 

 in 1200." In 1254 the Master of the 

 mplcaded the prior for imprisoning and 

 tain of his men who had come to the 

 market on the Templars' business. 39 The markets 

 and fairs were frequently disturbed during the 13th 

 and 14th centuries. 38 In May 1537, shortly after 

 the dissolution of the priory, the market, fairs, court 

 of pie-powder with the stallage and piccage and the 

 profits of the windmill of the late priory were leased 

 to Richard Cromwell (afterwards knighted) for twenty- 

 one years. 40 Much of the market-place was, however, 



7 Kin 



ton, Bin. of Soy. 



Mir, 192. 

 m, Th, Origin 

 and Uits of Rojslsn Cmi (ed. 1858), 7. 



19 Dr. Stukeley describes it! discovery 

 and the excavation of the loose earth 

 ■which filled it (Origint, RtytW'aaoi, pt i, 



s)- 



*> Ibid. 



,: C. Parkin, jinewrr to Dr. Sruiiltfs 

 Origin, Ryttir.Urue (ed. 1744). 



12 Origins Roystomanai, pt. ii. Mr. J. Y. 

 Akcrman in 1S34 noted its similarity to 

 a Roman sepulchral vault {Arrhosshgia, 

 niiv, 27 j Beldam, Origin and Um of 

 fa Soysn* Can, 17 ««,.). 



« Beldam, op. cit. 18. 



"a See under Baikway. 



"Sum 

 Hht.ofR, 



» Mini 

 There we 



Row and 



/R,...-«, 



y in 1610 printed by Kingi 



,m* f 117. 



. Accta. Hen. VIIL 



Smithry Riw (King 



<\. R. 6, printed by Dug- 





<t 405 i 



: Hen 



[.Men 



VI, 'Records,' 



*> Cat. Rot. Chan. (Rec. Com.), 189*, 

 192*. "> s „ below. 



*" Cal. Chan. R. 1226-57, p. 218. 



'"Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill (i.t 

 Ins.), no. 44. 



31 Cat. Chan. R. 1126-57, P- z°8. 



H Pop, Are*. Tax. (Rec Com.;, i+i. 



254 



lit. Clau,. (Rec. Com.), i, 568; 

 :. A Qua fVarr. (Rec. Com.), *8 t . 



mdP. Hen. VIll,M,w, 613 [1]). 

 Rot. Cur. R,g. (Rec Com.), 

 i 11, 81, 145, 117, 218. This pit 

 erncd 'liberties,' probably the ei 

 tion from tall claimed bv both partu 

 ion (Hi,,, of H„n. 356) ttate. th. 



■* L, end P. H en . rill, nii (,), p . 584. 



