A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



jthin 



radio 



of 1 6 miles 



appointing numerous 

 keepers to guard against poachers and ' persons of base 

 condition' and also against the scholars of Cam- 

 bridge. 7 He appointed also a master of the harriers, 

 three principal huntsmen and four huntsmen in 

 liveries, issued proclamations against the "audacious 

 and irregular penons ' who failed in 'forbearance of 

 their own delight for our desport,' s and even called 

 upon the farmers to take down the high bound; 



between their lands 3 and upon neighb 

 to diswarren their preserves. 10 Regul 

 organized from London. 11 The postmaste 

 Haggar, seems to have abused his office 

 more horses than was necessary from poo: 

 men. 12 Another effect of the king's re 



ring gentry 

 posts were 

 ;r, Thomas 

 by taking 

 in try 



Royston was the extraordinary care bestowed upon 

 the roads, which were cut up by great malt-waggons 

 drawn by teams of horses. 13 At a later date the roads 

 were endangered by highway robbers. 1 " 1 



Matters of state were occasionally forced upon the 

 Royston. The people of the neighbe 



ting-field 

 encourage faithful pastors. 15 

 .try people made use of the 

 .er ' to bear a petition that 

 s their provision was spent 

 ntertain him any longer. 1 '' 



parishes petitioned Ja 

 on 6 November 1604, to 

 Shortly before this the count 

 king's special hound 'Jowli 

 he would leave Rovston, as 

 and thev were unable to en 

 With a 'small train of for 

 in |anuary 1612-13 for 

 joined by Prince Charles and the Elector Palatine, 

 and there he signed the agreement for the dower of 

 the Princes; Elizabeth. 17 It was at Royston that the 

 king parted with his favourite, Somerset, 18 in l6rc, 

 and while staying there in October 1618 he caused 

 Raleigh to be executed under the sentence passed 

 against him in l6o3. la In March 1 619 he lay there 

 dangerously ill -° and left the town in a ' Neapolitan 

 portative chair' 24 April.* 1 In October 16:2, after 

 the return of Prince Charles and Buckingham from 

 their fruitless journey to Spain, James received them 

 on the stairs at Royston, ' when they fell on their 

 knees and all wept together.'- 2 James dubbed his last 

 knight, Sir Richard Bettenson, at Royston z8 Febru- 

 ary 1624-5, 3 month before his death. * a 



Charles I visited the Court House less frequently 

 than his father, but occasionally stayed there on the 



way to or from Newmarket.* 1 On his journey to 

 York in 1642 he stayed at Rovston from J to 7 March, 



while continuing negotiations with Parliament respect- 

 ing the militia.** In April 1646 M. Montreuil met 

 the Chancellor of Scotland and others here, and made 

 definite arrangements for the king's reception by the 

 Scottish army. SE Apparently the king himself passed 

 through Royston on his way to Newark a few weeks 

 later. 27 He returned thither as a prisoner of the 

 Parliamentary army in June 1647.** The main body 

 of the army, under the command of Fairfax, Ireton 

 and Cromwell, had preceded the king and was at 

 Royston to June, advancing thence to St. Albans. w 

 The townspeople do not appear to have been enthu- 

 siastic supporters of the royal cause, 30 but the ' mur- 

 thering of their king* roused them to assault a 

 recruiting party from General Ircton's foot which 

 visited Royston fair in 1649, 31 and in 165 1 Thomas 

 Coke confessed that he employed one Major Hall 

 there to urge the people to join with the king if there 

 were occasion. He was aided by Charles Baxton, an 

 innkeeper, and Thomas Turner, both of Royston. 3 * 

 In 1649 the Court House was seized by the Par- 

 liament with the other possessions of the Crown, 

 but Philip (Herbert) Earl of Pembroke put in a 

 claim to the lands and Buildings formerly belonging 

 to the ' Swan,' with the cast part of the new lodgings 

 for visitors, the cock-pit and the dog-house, and also 

 'that part of the king's lodgings that julteth out on 

 the east part thereof, being three bays of brick build- 

 ing 50ft. by t% ft., containing the king's bedchamber, 

 drawing-room,' &c, with the king's privy garden. 33 

 The earl had purchased the ' Swan 'in 162 t M from 

 Sir William Russell, kt., treasurer of the Royal Navy, 

 and John Bedell, a merchant of London. 



Ai the death of Charles the buildings, except only 

 the king's and prince's lodgings, were much out of 

 repair, but the commissioners who surveyed them 

 recommended that they should be turned into tene- 

 ments rather than demolished, and their suggestion 

 seems to have been carried out." 5 The whole of the 

 Court House seems to have come into the possession 

 of Lewis and William Awdley during the Protec- 

 torate. 38 After the Restoration Edward Chester, lord 

 of the manor, and others laid claim to some part of 

 the buildings." The King's House, however, was 



:, p. 460. 



to carry letters in i 536 (//hi. M.\S. Com. 

 Rep. *iv, App. vtii, 35). 



» Co!. S. P. Dom. 1637-3, pp. 269, 

 390 ; ef. Hist. MSS. Com. Rip. iii, App. 

 ii, 180. As many as 200 horse* were 

 commandeered in two days. 



13 Cal. S. P. Dam. 1619-23, pp. 383, 

 4-95 i 1631-3, pp. 66, 4.04,409 ; 1633-+, 

 PF.232,477,478. Thecuttings through 

 thr hills 00 the London and Newmarket 

 roads were made about 183; (Kingston, 

 Hist. ,f R v ,nn, .79). 



" The mail wa» robbed Oct. 1669 half 

 a mile out of the town (Cal. S. P. Dom. 

 1668-9, P- i 2 i 1 cf - Kingston, Frag-nenti 

 ./7WC,.»„„, U ). 



15 The petition is printed by K;ri75ton, 

 Hilt, of RysK", 106; cf. Ca!. S. P. Dim. 

 1580-1625, p. 449. It was one among 



Hin 



the fan 



•r 



Mill 



Mar 



. 1604 (ibid. 305-9). 



18 Nichols, Program of las. /, i, 46 

 " Cal. S. P. Dom. l6[[-rS, pp. 



171-2; cf. Beldam, op. cit. iji. 

 » Nichols, op. cit. iii, ,05. 



19 Ibid. 493 ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1611 

 p. 5S6. 



»' Ibid. 1619-23, pp. 28, 35. 



" Cal. S.P. Do*. 1613-5, p.g 3 , 

 marriage treaty with Henrietta 

 was ratified not at Royston as rti 

 Beldam (op. cit. 132), but at Car 

 12 Dec. 1624 {Cal. S. P. Dam. t 

 pp. 405, + ")• 



" Nichols, Progress of lot. 



'Hit. MSS. Com. Rep. iiv, App. viii, 

 00; iii, App. ii, 308; Cal. S. P. 

 1641-3, pp. 293, 463 ; he was 

 ipinied by Prince Charles, and als„ 



at York (ibid. 289 ; Clare 

 Iht Rebellion, vii, 413). 



M Cal. of Clarendon S. P. i, 311-12. 



37 Kingston, Herts, during the Chil 

 War, 62. 



*• Cal. S. P. Dom. 1 045-7, PP- S 6 4, 

 592; cf. V.C.H. Him. ii, 33. 



« Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. t 

 184*. 



i, App. ( 



,g,t on , Hht.ofRyitov, ,+» 

 31 'A ilwfy fight in Hertfordshire,' 

 King's. Pamphlets, E 565 (73); ' The 

 man in the moon ditcovering a nvorld of 

 iiw-very under tit imi,' King's Pamphlets, 

 quoted by Kingston, Hiit. cf Royston, 



" Hiit 



, App. i 



MSS, Com. Rep. ii 



A regiment of Parliame. 



passed through the town 



o take part in the Worcester - 



23 Aug. ,651 {Cal. S. P. 



P- 359)- 



'arl. Surv. Cambl. no. 4, 5. 

 :iose, 19 Jas. I, pt. i, no. I. 



IS Chas 



II, 1 



258 



