ROYSTON, a market-town and parish, partly in the
hundred of ARMINGFORD, county of CAMBRIDGE, but
chiefly in the hundred of ODSEY, county of HERTFORD,
20 miles (N. by B.) from Hertford, and 38 (N.) from
London, (parts of the town, exclusively of its own parish,
extending into the parishes of Barkway and Therfield,
county of Hertford, and into those of Melbourne, Bassingbourn,
and Kneesworth, county of Cambridge,) containing
1474 inhabitants. This place is supposed to
have had its origin in the reign of William the Conqueror,
and to derive its name from a .cross having been
erected at that period in the highway here, by the
Lady Roysia, Countess of Norfolk, which was called
Royse's Cross; and a monastery having been established
shortly afterwards, by Eustachius de Mere and others,
which led to the erection of houses, .it acquired the appellation
of Royse's town, whence its present name.
It had become a considerable town in the reign of
Henry IV., when it was nearly consumed by fire; and
again, in 1747, it was subjected to the same calamity.
A house was built here by James I., who made it his
occasional residence, for the enjoyment of hunting
and hawking; and it was here that his favourite, the
Earl of Somerset, was arrested in his presence, for
the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. At the commencement
of the civil war, Charles I. removed to
this house from Hampton Court, previously to setting
up his standard at Nottingham; and here this unfortunate
monarch passed two nights, in June 1647,
when a prisoner to the army, which had its head-quarters
at this place. The survey of this palace, made
during the Commonwealth, describes it as in good repair,
but it has since gone to ruin, and but few vestiges of it
can be traced. Royston -is situated at the intersection
of the Iknield-way and the Ermin-street, in a very
bleak open country, near a chain of high hills, and,
though improved of late, is very irregularly built: it
consists of one long and narrow street, crossed by two
shorter ones, and neither lighted nor paved; there is a
very scanty supply of water, which the inhabitants generally
are obliged to purchase. A public Walk, planted
with trees, has been lately opened, at the expense of Lord
Dacre. The malting business is carried on to a considerable
extent, and there is a large corn trade. The market,
which was granted by Richard I., who also granted a fair,
is on Wednesday, for corn, sheep, and pigs, and also for
straw-plat; and there are fairs on Whit-Wednesday,
attached to which is a pie-powder court; on Shrove-
Wednesday; the feast of St. Thomas a Becket, and
the Wednesday in Easter week, pleasure fairs; and one
for hiring servants, on the first Wednesday after the
10th of October: a market-house was built in 1830,
at the expense of Lord Dacre. A petty session is held
every alternate Wednesday.
The living is a vicarage, in the jurisdiction of the
Commissary of Essex and Herts, concurrently with the
Consistorial Court of the Bishop of London, rated in
the king's books at £10, endowed with £200 private
benefaction, and £700 parliamentary grant, and in the
patronage of Lord Dacre. The church was originally
that of the priory, and dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket,
but was purchased by the inhabitants at the dissolution
of the monastery, and, by an act passed in the
32nd of Henry VIII., is called the parish church of St.
John the Baptist in Royston; it is a rude, though venerable,
structure, with a low square massive tower at
its western end, and contains some very ancient monuments;
in the vestry-room is a library, comprising
about one hundred and fifty volumes, chiefly theological.
There is a place of worship for the Society of
Friends, and two for Independents. A grammar school
was erected by subscription in 1716, but it possesses
no endowment, and a house has been recently erected
for a free school. In 1769, Mrs. Glover bequeathed
£3500 for building and endowing a charity school, but.
it was never received. An infant school is supported by
subscription; and there are Sunday schools in connexion
with the different places of worship, in which nearly
three hundred children of both sexes are educated. The
monastery, at the period of its dissolution, was valued
at £89.16. per annum, and, with the exception of the
church, has been entirely demolished. Here was also an
hospital, dedicated to St. John and St. James, but there
are no vestiges. Many relics of antiquity have been disco-
vered in and about Royston, among which is an ancient
chapel, or cave, found near the site of the present market-
house by some workmen, in 1742, which had been dug
out of the .chalk rock, and had an opening from the top:
it has been conjectured to have been the oratory and
burial-place of the Lady Roysia, although this opinion
has been strongly controverted. Tumuli, or barrows,
are found on the summits of the adjacent hills, and the
discovery of a number of bones and corroded spear
heads near the town, renders it probable that it was the
scene of an engagement with the Danes. A species
of crow, with a whitish head, denominated the " Royston
Crow," is found on the neighbouring hills, and is
peculiar to this part of the kingdom; it emigrates to
Sweden in the spring, where it breeds, and returns to
pass the winter here. Henry Andrews, many years a
resident in this town, was employed by the Board of
Admiralty in assisting to compute the celestial observations
for the Nautical Almanac; and he was longer
and more extensively engaged in making the calculations
for Moore's Almanac; he died in .1820, and is
buried here.