place

Royston Cave

Caves of HertfordshireChalk mines in EnglandGrade I listed buildings in HertfordshireKnights TemplarRoyston, Hertfordshire
Scheduled monuments in HertfordshireTourist attractions in HertfordshireUse British English from January 2015
Royston Cave Beldam Plate I
Royston Cave Beldam Plate I

Royston Cave is an artificial cave located in Katherine's Yard, Melbourn Street, Royston, England. It is located beneath the crossroads formed by Ermine Street and the Icknield Way. It is protected as both a scheduled ancient monument and Grade I listed building. It has been speculated that it was used by the Knights Templar, who founded nearby Baldock, but this is unlikely, despite its enormous popular appeal. There are numerous theories about the Cave covering Freemasons and Templars as well as possibilities that the Cave was a prison or an anchorite cell. However, none of these theories have enough hard evidence to warrant their being adopted by the Cave Trust. 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 cut into the chalk bedrock. It is 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 for its numerous medieval carvings on the walls; comparable examples exist only in the former Czechoslovakia and Israel. Some of the figures are thought to be those of St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Lawrence and St. Christopher.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Royston Cave (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Royston Cave
Melbourn Street, North Hertfordshire

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Website Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Royston CaveContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.048333333333 ° E -0.022777777777778 °
placeShow on map

Address

The Manor House

Melbourn Street 14
SG8 7BZ North Hertfordshire
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Website
jdwetherspoon.com

linkVisit website

Royston Cave Beldam Plate I
Royston Cave Beldam Plate I
Share experience

Nearby Places

Royston railway station
Royston railway station

Royston railway station serves the town of Royston in Hertfordshire, England. The station is 44 miles 72 chains (72.3 km) from London Kings Cross on the Cambridge Line. Trains serving the station are operated by Thameslink and Great Northern. The station is an important stop on the commuter line between King's Cross and Cambridge as the majority of semi-fast services between London and Cambridge stop at Royston - one exception being the 'Cambridge Cruiser' fast services from London. It is also the last station before Cambridge with platforms capable of handling 12-car trains. Therefore, it is used by many commuters, not only from Royston but also from smaller stations north of Royston who transfer from stopping services to faster trains at the station. The station was opened by the Royston and Hitchin Railway in October 1850 as its initial eastern terminus. The line was subsequently extended as far as Shepreth the following year and through to Cambridge by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1852. The latter company took out a lease on the Royston company from then until 1866 and ran trains between Cambridge and the Great Northern Railway's main line junction at Hitchin until its lease expired. Thereafter the GNR took over and began running through trains from Cambridge to Kings Cross from 1 April 1866. Royston station is still labeled as Royston (Herts) on tickets and information displays, even though the station serving the town with the same name in South Yorkshire closed in 1968.