ODSEY HUNDRED 



In 1651 the whole of the Lodgings, which then 

 projected westwards into the street, so commanding a 

 view of the road north and south, is described as 'all 

 of brick well-tiled double-built, in length 78 ft., breadth 

 43 ft., height from eaves to ground 24. ft., thickness of 

 walls 24 inches.' Below stairs were six lodging- 

 chambers well-floored and well-matted ; above stairs 

 six rooms, including the presence and privy chambers, 

 with wainscot shuttings to all windows/ 8 James I 

 passed through Royston on Friday, 29 April 1603, 

 on his way to London in the month following his 

 accession and was entertained by Robert Chester at 

 the Priory. 70 Attracted by the opportunities afforded 

 by Royston for his favourite sport of hunting, James I 

 hired Chester's house for one year, 8 " probably the 

 first of his reign, and began in 1604 to convert the 

 'Cock' and the 'Greyhound' into a house for him- 

 self. 61 Simon Basill was responsible for the ' finishing ' 

 of the King's Lodgings in 1607. During this year 

 partitions were set up ' in the pages' chamber at 

 the presence door,' many new doors were put in and 

 the king's garden was made. Many repairs, including 

 the rebuilding of a fallen chimney, the replacing of a 

 timber chimney, setting up a stone mantel in the 

 chamber of the Duke of Lennox and the repair of 

 the wine-cellar door, ' being broken all to pieces,' are 

 evidence of the decayed state of the buildings pur- 

 chased by the king. si 



Apparently the King's Lodgings des< 

 were on the site of the ' Cock.' * 3 The 

 buildings called the ' Greyhound ' were 

 but were converted as they stood in 

 chamber and other officers' lodgings. 6 

 these and the King's House stood the Prince's 

 Buttery, an old building partly tiled, partly thatched. 85 

 The ' Greyhound ' was a freehold tenement of Royston 

 Manor occupied by John Newport in I 5 39. BS In its 

 stables in 1537 Robert Dalyvell, saddler, prophesied 

 the death of Henry VIII and the extinction of 

 English nobles before Midsummer's Day, 1 53s. 87 

 James purchased the inn from the Earl of Lincoln, 88 

 who may have acted for him in acquiring it. South 

 of the ' Greyhound ' was the house of Judith Wilson 

 in i6io 69 with a malt-house attached. 90 In 1628 

 Thomas Wilson let a part of this house to the king as 

 a privy kitchen. 91 Beyond this were the pantry and 

 waiting offices of Prince Charles. The corner house 

 at the Cross was called the ' Howletts ' and was held by 

 the occupier of the 'Greyhound' in 1 539- 92 Under 

 James I it was converted into the Prince's Lodgings, 



nbed above 

 tiled-timber 



Between 



,s Par!. Surv. Can 



» Nichols, Progre 

 Beldam, op. cit. 121 



* Cal. S. P. Don,. 



«' The keeper of 

 pointed iz Nov. ifi 



nibly i 



ROYSTON 



described in 1652 as a brick and timber building 

 1 1 7 ft, by 18 ft., three stories high with three rooms 

 below stairs and four above. 33 At the rear of 

 the 'Greyhound' or guard-house were the king's 

 butteries. 94 The King's Privy Garden lay behind 

 his lodgings and to the north of it was the Great 

 Garden with the porter's lodge facing on Knees- 

 worth Street. 95 This lodge was built on land 

 formerly demesne of the manor let to John Gott 

 and abutted on Gray's Close. 86 In the course of 

 time the royal buildings were extended. Larders, 

 pantries, bake-houses, the wardrobe and the lodgings 

 for the keeper of the house were established in the 

 ' Swan,' a double row of two-storied timber buildings 

 at the rear of the Prince's Lodgings, 97 with a gateway 

 at each end, the southern one opening Into Mel- 

 bourn Street. 98 The grounds of the ' Swan,' at the 

 back of the king's buildings, contained his cock-pit, 

 'with substantial tile-covered roof,' and a large close 

 between the gardens and the lane formerly called 

 Field Lane, now Dog-Kennel Lane. Buildings were 

 added for visitors, partly in the gardens, partly in the 

 close, and a garden for them was inclosed from the 

 latter. At the north end of the king's property, 

 where Dog-Kennel Lane bends round into Knees- 

 worth Street, was the dog-house, and next it lodgings 

 lor servants were built on a garden formerly belonging 

 to the 'Talbot.' Between these and the Great 

 Garden were the Duke of Hamilton's stables for 

 hunting-horses. 8 '' 1 The dog-house and the stables, 

 with 'Little Meadow Plotts,' had been known as 

 'John Almonde's Barnyard,' which James purchased 

 from Edward Smith, one of the yeomen of the cham- 

 ber. 100 East of the royal buildings and beyond Dog- 

 Kennel Lane lay the old pasture paled in. A portion of 

 this is still called the Park. 



The equerries were lodged in Middle Row, oppo- 



The coach-houses formed a large 



side of Kneesworth Street opposite 



gs. North of them James had his 



Paradise.' l 



his house at Royston 

 1 '* ; and in t6io the Hert- 

 complained of the inconvenience 

 ; of building material to Royston 

 n.' s The king was frequently at 

 7 he was so ' exceedingly well 

 of these parts' that his courtiers 

 'have a more Royston life than 

 caused the game to be preserved 



site Wilson's house 

 block on the wes' 

 the King's Lodgi 

 bowling-green or 



v 



fordshiri 



pent nearly £4,0 

 id 1611 s 



ot carting 500 loa 

 in the hari-est sea 

 Royston. In i( 

 pleased with the a 

 suspected he woul 

 ever he had.'* P 



158; (Feet of F. the house of John Iss: 



628-9, P- 3' 

 he house wi 

 4, and more. 



'' lb:d. 





(Cal. S. P. Dom. 1S03- 



Survey of 1610 quoted by Kingston, 



Hhr. of Rqyiu«, 116). 



Ba Declared Accts. Pipe Off. R. 3369. 



83 According to the survey of 1 6 1 the 

 king held 'one fayre Howse sometime 

 two several tenement! namely ye Grey- 

 hound & ye Cock late in the Tenure of 

 Simon Swynbourn Gent.' James Palmer 

 gave a part at least of the site of the 

 king's house, and received in exchange 

 the manor of Spaldwick, co. Hunts., and 

 part of Wingham Manor in Kent {His I. 

 AfSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. i, 184.). Pos- 



3 



s Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. tfio6. 



87 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xii (2), 

 74, 80. 



™ Evch. Dep. Trin. iS Chas. II, no. g; 

 Cal. S. P. Dom. 1603-10, p. 532. 



»» Survey quoted by Kingston, op. cit. 



a ° Part. Surv. Cambs. 4. 



91 Cal. S. P. Dom. 1638-9, P- i° 6 i 

 cf. Chan. Proc. Eliz. Ww. viii, 23 for 

 Wilson's house. 



■>' ! Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606. 



■' I hid. 



cf. the plan prii 



;<?d by 



in Arch. 



M Exch. Dep. Trin. 1 8 Chas. II, no. e. 



1 A croft called ' Pairydyne ' with a 

 toft and a barn in Back Street was 

 held by Robert Bell in 1539 (Mins. 

 Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606). For the 

 account of the buildings see Pari. Surv. 

 Cambs. 4 ; Exch. Dep. Ttin. 18 Chas. II, 

 no. 5 ; Survey of 1610 printed by King- 

 ston, Hi,,, of Royston, 115-18; plan 

 drawn up by Beldam, Artk. xl, 136. 



1 Beldam, 'Royston Court House,' 

 Arch, xl, 123. 



6 Cal. S.P.Dom. 1603-.0, p. 625. 



* BuccUuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 

 i, 103. 



