Blue Plaques of Royston

Important buildings and people in the history of Royston
By Tim Shepherd

Unlike the Blue Plaques put up and paid for by the London Boroughs, the first three plaques to appear in Royston (Town Hall, Market Hill Rooms and Royston Cave) were paid for by North Herts District Council, and the remainder have been paid for by the owners of the properties.

Many of the plaques are situated in the area immediately to the north of 'Royston Cross' and represent Royston’s relationship to King James 1st and his son Charles. Many of the buildings in this area still look the same externally as they did when James visited on his frequent hunting trips, indeed the jettied buildings pre-date James as he banned all jettied building!

Note that all the plaques have the town symbol of the Hooded Crow.

Click on the thumbnails below to browse through the gallery and read the information about each one given in the captions.

Photo:WHITEHALL: The home of Lord Mounteagle. The original house was burnt down and No 5 London Road is all that survives. Mounteagle had to ride overnight to London, down what was then an open pathway, to warn the king of the Gunpowder Plot. Today we still celebrate the capture of a C17th terrorist by using the same materials!
Photo:GREENLAWNS: This plaque on the wall of the 'Green Man' public house marks the area of the town's public bowling greens. At the rear of the Green Man is an area marked out for Petanque, the continental version played on a shingle piste, thus keeping up the tradition of the site.
Photo:THE OLD COURT HOUSE: After its use as a courthouse this building has undergone several changes of ownership including an estate agents, travel agents and now a restaurant and the façade of the building has been redecorated and repainted as close to the original colour scheme as possible.
Photo:THE MASONIC HALL: This building is in Jepps Lane, a narrow alley linking the north end of Market Hill to the High Street. The Church alluded to was in John Street, running parallel to Jepps Lane and it was demolished and the site is now occupied by a closed down Turkish Café with a nightclub on the upper floors.
Photo:THE PRINCE'S LODGING: The original building has long since disappeared - the site is now occupied by Lloyds Bank.
Photo:THE EQUERRIES: Now the Conservative Club, internally altered with many of the original walls removed and the beams exposed showing the original fireplaces on the ground and first floor. Externally not much different from as it was in King James' time.
Photo:THE GUARD HOUSE: Opposite the Equerries in a house now occupied by a restaurant. Inside the building the steep flight of stairs from ground to first floor has been retained and the original rooms upstairs have been opened up to make one larger room though much of the early woodwork is still in evidence.
Photo:THE KING'S BUTTERY: Situated between the Palace and the Guard House even today this Elizabethan building is still used to provide food - as a Fish and Chip Shop!
Photo:OLD POLICE STATION: An odd-shaped building that many believe is on the site of the entrance to the dog kennels of King James' Hunt. For many years land to the north of the Cross was in the county of Cambridgeshire until boundary changes initiated by an Act of Parliament, so up to 1896 Royston had two police forces; one for each county. The Hertfordshire Police Station was built in the 1880s on the corner of Priory Lane and Market Hill and incorporated a Magistrates Court and lock-ups, still in existence today.
Photo:ROYAL SERVANTS: Now occupied by a pizza parlour, a very unassuming little building, whose origins are given away by a bay window almost touching the pavement outside. This row of cottages was occupied by the stable and kennel staff.
Photo:THE KING'S PARADISE: A private bowling green for the king and his court, and a short walk from the palace, on the opposite side of the road to the Royal Servants. It is believed that other 'sports' took place here such as bear baiting and cock fighting.
Photo:ROYSTON CAVE: Situated directly underneath this plaque. Despite the numerous carvings in the chalk bell chamber, the origin and purpose of the cave are still uncertain. The cave entrance is in the little courtyard opposite the plaque.
Photo:THE BANYERS HOTEL: After the Banyers was sold by the family, the house became the home of the Beldam family and it is quite possible that Joseph Beldam wrote the tracts published by the Society for the Abolition of Slavery in this building.
Photo:PRIORY MEMORIAL GARDENS: Arthur Whydale was the brother of a prominent Royston artist, E Herbert Whydale, and the gardens were originally designed as a memorial to the dead soldiers of the Second World War. This gate is one of five entrances to the gardens.
Photo:ROYSTON TOWN HALL: Originally an institute for the education in the three Rs and the trade education of young men, built in 1855 it became redundant on the introduction of universal elementary education and became the Town Hall in 1900 for the princely sum of £600. The Town Hall stood on the site of a much older tollgate and tollgate cottage which was on the Hertfordshire/Cambridgeshire border on the main road to Cambridge.
Photo:PRIORY GATES: These magnificent gates graced the entrance to a house in Whaddon and then a house called the Gables, which stood on a site opposite Morrisons store, now known as Cardinals Gate. They now form the Fish Hill entrance to the Priory Memorial Gardens.
This gallery was added by Tim Shepherd on 25/01/2012.

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