ODSEY HUNDRED 



occupied by about fifty shops held on lease by various 

 owners. 41 Sir Richard Cromwell transferred his 

 interest in the market to Edward Annesby." Never- 

 theless in 1540 a grant was made to Robert Chester 

 of all the possessions of the priory ' with two fairs, one 

 lasting throughout Whitsun week, the other on 7 July 

 and the two days following, and a market on every 

 Wednesday at Royston.'" The claims of Annesby 

 and Chester were considered by the Court of Aug- 

 mentations between 1540 and 1544, and apparently 

 the decision was in favour of the lord of the manor. 

 The profits of the fair and market have since remained 

 with the successive lords. 



The great corn market of Royston is frequently 

 noticed in the writings of 17th-century travellers, one 

 of whom describes Royston as a ' dry town good for 

 the utterance of cattell barley and malt.' *' The Corn 

 Exchange was built by the lord of the manor in 

 1829." The present market-house on the hill was 

 built about 1836. A ' tolbooth ' had existed in I 341 

 and contained the stocks." It may have been at the 

 cross-ways near the site of the Clock House, where the 

 stocks stood until they were removed to the Market 

 Hill." Before 1792 fairs on Ash Wednesday, 

 Wednesday in Easter week and the first Wednesday 

 after IO October had been added to those granted to 

 the priory," and these still existed in 1888," but the 

 Whitsun fair is now extinct, the July fair, sometimes 

 called Becket's fair, has almost disappeared, and the 

 October fair alone is of any importance. sa 



At the apex of the present triangular market is 

 Fish Hill, facing the county court erected in 1849. 1 " 

 On this hill a schoolhouse was built by contributions 

 from gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood about 

 1716." It was afterwards given to the use of the 

 parish." Henry Andrews, astronomer, calculator to 

 the Board of Longitude and to Moore's Almanack, 

 taught in this school in 1767." The infants' schools 

 date from 1827 ; Board and National schools were 

 established about 1 840." 



In High Street are a few 17th-century cottages 

 built of timber and plaster with modern fronts, and 

 opposite the Bull Hotel is a 15th-century timber and 

 plaster house on brick foundations with a projecting 

 upper story supported on brackets and bow windows 

 on the ground floor. A way called John Street was 

 opened Into the High Street from Fish Hill after a 



ROYSTON 



disastrous fire which occurred in 1841. 6 At the 

 north-east corner of John Street the present Congre 

 gational chapel was built 

 ■eplace the old Meeting Hoi 



■ the 



which had existed in 



Middle Row, Ki 

 Congrcgationallsts hat 

 Wheeler in 1672," 

 originated in the lect 

 Nathaniel Ball, 



706." The 

 mse of John 

 their meetings possibly 

 given on market days by 

 ted minister of Barley 



rth Street, 



(1660-2). 60 The Baptist chapel near Bark way 

 Street was built in 180,6".'" 



The High Street and Back Street contain numerous 

 inns, some of which date from posting days. The 

 ' Red Lion ' on the east side of the High Street, now 

 no longer an inn, was the chief of these. In rooms 

 at the back of it was held the famous Royston Club, 

 partly political, partly convivial, which was in 

 existence before 1 689 and broke up about the middle 

 of the 1 8th century." The ' Bull ' at the top of the 

 High Street has existed since iczo. 63 Petty sessions 

 were held there, and it was under protest that the 



>then 



8 S o." 



The end house of Middle Row on the west side of 

 the High Street near the Cross was the Tabard Inn," 

 where in 1539 a servant of the Bishop of Durham 

 spoke openly against the dissolution of monasteries 

 before the ' good man ' of the inn. 6 " At least eleven 

 such inns in the town then gave accommodation to 

 the travellers who passed through on the way from 

 London to the north." For the spiritual 'relief of 

 poor people coming and going through the town' 

 Richard Argentine, Sheriff of Cambridgeshire in 1224, 

 founded the chapel of St. John and St. James on the 

 of Baldock Street. efl It was evidently 

 th the hospital of St. James existing in 

 vas added to it the chantry of 

 a separate chapel in the Cam- 

 of the town. 10 The chapel of 

 es was suppressed in 1547," and 

 the site let in succession to Edward Chester in 

 January 1565-6, to John Hall and to John Moore." 

 Hall, acting in trust for Edward Chester, who was 

 serving in the Netherlands, obtained a confirmation 

 of title against Sir Giles Alington, kt., heir to the 

 patrons and founders, who asserted his right to the 

 'chapel lands.' 7 * In 1607 a grant in fee simple of 

 hapel or hospital and its possessions was 



identical 



125 1," and th, 



St. Nic 



St. John 



the late 



nd St. Jai 



41 Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606. 



42 Ct. of Aug. Proc. i, 5;. 



,s L. and P. Hen. Fill, xvl, 379 (So). 



"Ely Epical Records (ed. Gibbon], 

 52 ; Hut. MSS. Com. Sep. xiii, App. ii, 

 74. (Baskervllle) ; Ogilby, Britannia, 10. 



*' Kingston, Hist, of Royston, 202. 



« Assize R. 337 , m. 4. 



" They were afterwards set up on Fish 

 ill for Hertfordshire, and in Kneesworth 

 reet for Cambridgeshire (Kingston, 

 ill. of Kaystrm, 20C— l). 



13 kip. on Marists and Tolls (1888), i, 



'" Kin 

 »Ibi 



agston, Hist, of Royston, 

 ■ ; Si Close, ,841, 



pt. 



^Kingston, W,t. of Royston, .53-;; 

 he 'covenant' of the members was made 

 n 170;, five years after the first organiza- 

 ion of the meeting. 



59 Col. S. P. D,m. 1672, p. 379. 



60 Urwick, Nonconformity in Hens. 811. 

 t has recently been proved that the 

 'uri.an controversialist Cartwright was a 

 native of Royston (Kingston, Hut. of 

 loyston, 204). 



6i Kingston, I 

 7he Anabaptist, 



" Ibid, 



. Co. Ric. 



sa Salmon, Hist, of Herts, (ed. 1728V 

 35S. 



y > Kiiv-'itor., Hi;:, of Royston, 181. 



M ri>r\i. 212 ; Die/. Nat. Stag. 



55 Ibid, i cf. Close, 1840, pt. c1*viii, 

 no. 12 ; pt. elixv, no. 21 ; 4 Will. IV, 

 pt. I, no. 4j 1861, pt. an, no. .. 



list, of Rcysion, I S7 . 

 Edward W1r.7hm.1-., 

 ... -...sequence of a petition 

 which he presented to James I at Royston, 

 161 1, was the last person burnt for heresy 

 in lic^j-irl (Did. Nat. Btog.). 

 61 Gem. Mag. ], 474 ; liii, 8ij. 

 « Kingston, Hist, of Royston, 198. 

 G4 Hardy, Sen. R. (Herts. Co. Rec), ii, 

 461. 



"■' Beldam, 'Royston Court House' 

 {Arch, *L 1,7). 



<* L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiv (2), p. 28]. 



•> Mins. Accts. Hen. V11I, no. 1606. 

 They were the 'Lamb,' 'Crane,' 'Swan,' 

 ' Dolphin,' ' Sarsoneshedd,' ' Gieyhotmd,' 

 1 White Hart,' ' Bell,' ' George,' ' Crown,' 

 and the 'Tabard' with its 'garden called 

 Babiarde.' For a further account of the 

 inns see Kingston, Hist, of Roys/on, 

 198-200. 



68 Chant. Cert. Herts. 20, no. 629 

 Beldam, 'Royston Court House' (Arch. 

 «". '57). 



« Cal. Pat. 124.7-58, p. a; ■ the 

 double invocation has been found first in 

 1363 after the transfer of the chantry of 

 St. Nicholas (Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Bk. 

 Bokingham; cf. Cal. Pat. 1377-81, 

 P- 55)- 



>° Cal. Close, 1354-60, p. 587. 



" Chant. Cert. 20, no. 62. 

 ! Pat. 18 Eliz. 



Eli/ 



pt. v: 



. pt . 



n Ct. of Req. bdle. • 

 Feet of F. Herts. East. 2 



■ *9 ; « 



. 72 ; cf. 



