Royston Cave
Encyclopedia
Royston cave is a small artificial cave in Royston
in Hertfordshire
, England
. It has recently been speculated that it was used by the Knights Templar
, who founded nearby Baldock
, but this is unlikely, despite its enormous popular appeal. It is more likely that it originated as a cell for anchorites from the nearby Augustinian Priory, although a recent suggestion is that it was the town's earliest prison, perhaps dating from the late fifteenth century. It is open to the public in the summer months on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday
afternoons between Easter and October.
Royston Cave is a circular, bell-shaped chamber 8 metres (26 feet) high and 5 metres (17 feet) in diameter with a circumferential octagonal podium. The origin of this chamber is unknown. This cave is unique in Britain - if not the world - for its numerous medieval carvings on the walls. Some of the figures are thought to be those of St. Catherine of Alexandria
, St. Lawrence and St. Christopher.
and dug around the curious stone to get the object out of the way. He found a shaft leading downwards into the chalk
.
When discovered, the cavity was more than half-filled with earth. The rumour was that there must be a treasure buried beneath the soil inside the cave. Several cartloads of soil were removed until bedrock was reached. The soil was discarded as worthless as it did not contain anything more than a few old bones and fragments of pottery. This is rather unfortunate, as today's archaeology
would have been able to analyse the soil in depth. The Reverend G North's description of the discovery of a brown earthenware cup with yellow spots in the soil filling the cave sounds like a well-known early post-medieval type, no earlier than the late sixteenth century.
The location of the cave is at the junction of an ancient east-west track, the Icknield Way
, and the north-south Roman road, Ermine Street
. Icknield Way
was used during the Iron Age
and traces of its side ditches have been excavated at Baldock
. It has been claimed to run from the Thames Valley towards East Anglia, although this has recently been called into question. The modern day A505 between Royston
and Baldock
more-or-less follows its route.
Today the entrance is not by the original opening, but by a passage dug in 1790 and it is still possible to appreciate the sculptures which are almost as good today as when they were completed, possibly 800 years ago. However, due to damp conditions within the cave, insect larvae have recently been found to be infesting and causing damage to the carvings (2010).
It is thought that the sculptures were originally coloured, but little trace of this is visible now; in the middle of the nineteenth century, Joseph Beldam
could still see the yellow dress of St Catherine
and the red of the Holy Family
. For the most part they represent scenes of religious significance, amongst them the Crucifixion
and various saints. St Lawrence is depicted holding the grid iron on which he was martyred. A crowned figure holding a wheel appears to be St Catherine and large figure with a staff and a child on his shoulder represents St Christopher. A figure with a drawn sword could be St Michael or possibly St George. Another possibly religious symbol is the depiction of a naked woman known as a Sheela na Gig
. This figure is sometimes found on medieval churches so its inclusion with religious symbolism is not out of place.
The fact that these sculptures are of uncertain antiquity adds to their interest and offers visitors a chance to speculate on their origins. There are a number of holes, sometimes directly beneath the sculptures, which are thought to have held candles or lamps which would have illuminated the carvings.
A Pictorial Guide to the Royston Cave, 1998. Peter T Houldcroft FEng. Published by Royston and District History Society.
The Medieval Structure Within Royston Cave, Peter T Houldcroft FEng. Published by Royston and District History Society.
An Investigation of Royston Cave, Sylvia Beamon and Lisa G Donel. Camb. Antiq. 68, 1978.
Royston, Hertfordshire
Royston is a town and civil parish in the District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.It is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, which brushes the towns western boundary, and at the northernmost apex of the county on the same latitude of towns such as Milton Keynes and...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It has recently been speculated that it was used by the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, who founded nearby Baldock
Baldock
Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north northwest of the county town of Hertford...
, but this is unlikely, despite its enormous popular appeal. It is more likely that it originated as a cell for anchorites from the nearby Augustinian Priory, although a recent suggestion is that it was the town's earliest prison, perhaps dating from the late fifteenth century. It is open to the public in the summer months on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
afternoons between Easter and October.
Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
, St. Lawrence and St. Christopher.
Speculations
Royston Cave has been the source of many speculations, although it is hard to determine much about its origin and function.- Knights TemplarKnights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
: It has been recently speculated that the cave may have been used by the Knights TemplarKnights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
before their dissolution by Pope Clement V in 1312. Although claims have been made that this religious-military institution of the Catholic Church held a weekly market at RoystonRoyston, HertfordshireRoyston is a town and civil parish in the District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.It is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, which brushes the towns western boundary, and at the northernmost apex of the county on the same latitude of towns such as Milton Keynes and...
between 1199 and 1254, the market charter was in fact granted to the Augustinian Canons of the town. It has been speculated that the cave was divided into two floors by a wooden floor, the evidence consisting of a single posthole and what may be beamslots to secure the platform to the walls. Two figures close together near the damaged section may be all that remains of a known Templar symbol, two knights riding the same horse. However, as the image has been repaired in modern times, this cannot be confirmed. In 1953, the architectural historian, Nikolaus PevsnerNikolaus PevsnerSir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
, wrote that the date of the carvings "is hard to guess. They have been called Anglo-Saxon, but are more probably of various dates between the C14 and C17 (the work of unskilled men)". This would place the carvings after the time of the Templars; certainly the figures in armour are wearing full plate, which would date them to a century after the Templars' demise. - Augustinian store house: It has been claimed it was used by Augustinian monks from the local priory, who would have required a cool store for their produce and a chapel for their devotions. The idea that it might have been a meeting place for recusant Catholics during the Reformation of the 16th century has little to recommend it.
- NeolithicNeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
flintFlintFlint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
mine: this has also been put forward as an explanation of the cave.
Rediscovery
Although the origin of the cave is unknown, the story of the rediscovery is very well known. In August 1742 a workman dug a hole in the Butter Market in order to get decent footings for a new bench for the patrons and traders. He discovered a buried millstoneMillstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
and dug around the curious stone to get the object out of the way. He found a shaft leading downwards into the chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
.
When discovered, the cavity was more than half-filled with earth. The rumour was that there must be a treasure buried beneath the soil inside the cave. Several cartloads of soil were removed until bedrock was reached. The soil was discarded as worthless as it did not contain anything more than a few old bones and fragments of pottery. This is rather unfortunate, as today's archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
would have been able to analyse the soil in depth. The Reverend G North's description of the discovery of a brown earthenware cup with yellow spots in the soil filling the cave sounds like a well-known early post-medieval type, no earlier than the late sixteenth century.
The location of the cave is at the junction of an ancient east-west track, the Icknield Way
Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.-Background:...
, and the north-south Roman road, Ermine Street
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
. Icknield Way
Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.-Background:...
was used during the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
and traces of its side ditches have been excavated at Baldock
Baldock
Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north northwest of the county town of Hertford...
. It has been claimed to run from the Thames Valley towards East Anglia, although this has recently been called into question. The modern day A505 between Royston
Royston, Hertfordshire
Royston is a town and civil parish in the District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.It is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, which brushes the towns western boundary, and at the northernmost apex of the county on the same latitude of towns such as Milton Keynes and...
and Baldock
Baldock
Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north northwest of the county town of Hertford...
more-or-less follows its route.
It is thought that the sculptures were originally coloured, but little trace of this is visible now; in the middle of the nineteenth century, Joseph Beldam
Joseph Beldam
Joseph Beldam was an English writer, historian and advocate of the abolition of slavery.Beldam was born at Shepreth Hall , son of William Beldam and Marianne , and died at Banyers, Royston and is buried in the family vault at Royston Church...
could still see the yellow dress of St Catherine
Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
and the red of the Holy Family
Holy Family
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph.The Feast of the Holy Family is a liturgical celebration in the Roman Catholic Church in honor of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family...
. For the most part they represent scenes of religious significance, amongst them the Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
and various saints. St Lawrence is depicted holding the grid iron on which he was martyred. A crowned figure holding a wheel appears to be St Catherine and large figure with a staff and a child on his shoulder represents St Christopher. A figure with a drawn sword could be St Michael or possibly St George. Another possibly religious symbol is the depiction of a naked woman known as a Sheela na Gig
Sheela Na Gig
Sheela na gigs are figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva. They are found on churches, castles and other buildings, particularly in Ireland and Britain, sometimes together with male figures. One of the best examples may be found in the Round Tower at Rattoo, in County...
. This figure is sometimes found on medieval churches so its inclusion with religious symbolism is not out of place.
The fact that these sculptures are of uncertain antiquity adds to their interest and offers visitors a chance to speculate on their origins. There are a number of holes, sometimes directly beneath the sculptures, which are thought to have held candles or lamps which would have illuminated the carvings.
Sources
- Guide to Royston Cave (pamphlet) Local History Series 1999 Royston and District Local History Society.
- Beldam, Joseph. The Origins and Use of the Royston Cave, Being the substance of a Report, some time since presented to The Royal Society of Antiquaries (John Warren, 1884). Available on Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=eChcAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA25&dq=royston+cave&hl=en&ei=F4ZJTomHHtS2hAex0ISQCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, 1953.
Further reading
The Royston Cave, Used by Saints or Sinners? 1992, Sylvia Beamon MA (Cantab). ISBN 0-904378-40-3A Pictorial Guide to the Royston Cave, 1998. Peter T Houldcroft FEng. Published by Royston and District History Society.
The Medieval Structure Within Royston Cave, Peter T Houldcroft FEng. Published by Royston and District History Society.
An Investigation of Royston Cave, Sylvia Beamon and Lisa G Donel. Camb. Antiq. 68, 1978.