URPoint Details
The town has been around since the Norman Conquest and the name comes about from a Lady Roysia once erecting a cross here, and grew at the intersection of the Icknield Way and Ermine Street.
Below this crossroads is a strange monument, the bottle-shaped Royston Cave, discovered in 1742. Cut out of chalk, it is about 28ft deep and 107ft across. On the walls are crude carvings of among other, St Christopher and the Crucifixion, but the date of their origin is in dispute. The cave is reached by a winding passage.
There are many buildings in the High Street of interest including the early Victorian Bull Hotel of yellow brick and in John Street a small Victorian Court House in the Italian style.
The remains of James I’s palace are in Kneesworth Street, with two large original chimneys, the rest of the building having been rebuilt in the 18th century it was once a hunting base for the King.
- Type:
- Landmark