ROYSTON, a parish in the wapentake of STAINCROSS, West riding of the county of YORK, comprising the chapelries of Monk-Bretton, and Woolley with Emley, and the townships of Carlton, Chevett, Cudworth. Notton, and Royston, and containing 3126 inhabitants, of which number, 549 are in the township of Royston, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Barnesley. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of York, rated in the king's books at £ 17 3. 4., endowed with £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Archbishop of York. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The free grammar school is endowed with an annuity of £4. 6. 11. from the revenue of the duchy of Lancaster, also with a house and land granted by the crown in 1605; the total annual income is £82. 15. 1., for which the master is bound to teach the classics and writing, but for arithmetic he receives a quarterage from the children, whose average number is about thirty-five. At Monk-Bretton are the remains of an ancient monastery.