ROYSTON IN 1800-25.--ITS SURROUNDINGS, ITS STREETS, AND ITS PEOPLE.
The prospect of Royston from its surroundings was, at the beginning of
the century, singularly bleak and uninviting in winter time. Of the
many plantations which now beautify the vicinity of the town, and
afford such pleasant walks, not one tree had got on end. The London
Road, from the top of the town to the sylvan spot now known as the
"Seven Rides," had not a single tree near it, and only one solitary
bush standing out on the hill-top against the sky-line, on the summit
of what was then a very steep hill through which the cutting has since
been made. The hills on the Newmarket Road, which have also since been
cut through, were equally bare and monotonous in colour, at least
during most of the year; and the Heath was then destitute of those
graceful patches of charming spring and autumn natural tints which the
plantations of to-day give to the neighbourhood of the Church Hill, &c.
Some of the trees along by the Ivy Farm on the Haldock Road had been
planted, but that was about all there was towards that pretty setting
of the old town in tree and foliage, which is such a pleasing view,
especially when seen from the hills around the town. The plantations
near the Heath were carried out by the late Mr. Henry Thurnall, by
direction of the trustees of Mr. George Fordham, and those about the
Green Walk by the Lord Dacre of those days, who also erected, at the
summit of the hill, a kind of summer house which was so badly
appreciated by the public that it was taken away. I trust we may at
least write respecting these advantages--other days, other manners.
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The same open and exposed character, which left Royston in a semicircle
of bare hills, was also common to the surrounding parishes where the
land still lay in strips, with green baulks between, so that a 300 acre
farm was not unfrequently in four or five hundred strips, scattered
about the parish, one in this furlong or "shot," and one in that. The
country surrounding Royston on the line of Icknield Street, was not
only unenclosed, but much of it was heath country--extending from
Whittlesford to Royston on the one hand, and from Royston to Odsey on
the other, and it is a pleasure to add that this fine stretch of open
country presented in the spring a perfect picture of golden yellow
gorse blossom!
The four entrances to the town by the four ancient roads were also very
different seventy years ago from their present appearance, with regard
to habitations. On the London Road on the east side was the Rabbit
Warren, and not a single house from the present Vicarage site to
Gatward's Pond, excepting the old Workhouse where Godfrey Terrace now
is, and the Old Pest House just beyond Mr. Whitehead's stone works.
For the rest, the Rabbit Warren sloped away into the valley (now
gardens), where school-boys met and fought out their differences! Here
was the old claypit, a curious geological feature embosomed in the
chalk. Paupers and rabbits were the only inhabitants of this end of
the town on the cast, and on the west the first house was, as now, the
old "Horse Shoes," on the bank. The last house on the Melbourn Road
was the turnpike near the Institute. In Baldock Street there was
nothing on the south side beyond Messrs. Phillips' brewery, and on the
north side nothing beyond the Fleet, then a private road-way to the
lime kiln and clunch pit, in the occupation of Mr. S. Eversden, now
forming the picturesque dell in the grounds of the Rookery (Mr. Henry
Fordham's). Royston, in Cambridgeshire, consisted only of a few houses
beyond the old Palace, the house now occupied by Dr. Archer, then a
boarding school kept by Mrs. Raynes, being the last house in Royston,
Cambs. Now almost a town has sprung up beyond this spot, upon what
were then open fields. This house occupies part of an old burial site
around which centres a little mystery and a solid part of the history
of our old town. It must suffice here to say that what was in the
early years of the century a school for teaching the young idea how to
shout, has twice been the residence of a doctor, while beneath its
foundations have rested for centuries the ancestors of those who were
being tutored and physicked, and that a few years ago upon the removal
of earth for enlarging Dr. Archer's house, so many human remains were
disturbed that on the wall of the old cellar (then being enlarged) was
a skull of some poor Yorick of the Middle Ages in which a live bat had
taken up its abode!
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A few old sites and buildings may be here mentioned. The County Court
occupies what was then a tinker's shop and a farm-yard behind; the
pedal stone of the ancient Cross, now in the Institute garden, was then
at the back entrance to the Bull Yard, near Mr. Innes' shop, having
been removed from the Cross a few years before; the market place could
only be approached from the High Street, through the inn yards. Of the
ponds of Royston, Gatward's Pond, on the Barkway Road, was open and
unenclosed. It was not a very savoury bath, but in its turbid depths
so many boys used to disport themselves, that it was commonly remarked
in the district that Royston had no water, and yet more boys learned to
swim here than anywhere else in the district.
The other more notable ponds were those in Kneesworth Street, the first
where the piece of waste ground now is at the boundary between
Kneesworth and Royston (Cambs.) parishes, and one lower down the same
street. The pond which gave the most rural aspect to the north end of
the town was that in front of the White Bear public-house, at the top
of the present Gas Road; a genuine country pond, with a rail around by
that part of it next the road--which was then narrowed to half its
present width--and on the north side a long baulk or mound about four
feet high upon which was a group of trees.
The overturning of one of Lord Hardwicke's carts, laden with boxes,
into the pond, and sundry immersions of customers from the White Bear
in the night time, led to its abolition by the Turnpike Trust about
1830.
The Old Vicarage House stood in the Churchyard, with a public footpath
through the churchyard in front of it, and the present Church Lane at
the back. The old malting in Kneesworth Street, now Mr. Francis John
Fordham's coach-house and stables, played an interesting part in the
town life--a place of worship, an academy, and a reformer's trysting
place. At one end of the old barn-like structure the "Ranters" or
Methodists met for worship, at the other, later on, the late Mr. John
Baker conducted a school, and in this room, reached by a ladder, the
first Free Trade meeting was held in Royston, when, it goes without
saying, the Manchester men, coming within the smell of malt and near a
market which had flourished like a green bay tree under the _aegis_ of
Protection, had a warm reception in this, the only _room_ they could
get in the town!
But what would a town be without its Town Hall as the heart and centre
of its official life? Such a building Royston has for many years
possessed in the modest red-brick building known as the Parish Room, on
the Fish Hill. In this case, however, it was not the original purpose
for which the building was erected. It was built about the year 1716
for the purposes of a school house, and by the contributions {113} of
gentlemen of the town and country round. It thus became something of a
public institution from the first, but when apparently its uses as a
school-house became less beneficial to the town it was applied to
general parochial purposes. The traditions of the pedagogue were,
however, not easily got rid of, for even when the parish had evidently
got into the regular custom of using it for meetings, there was at
least one person they had to reckon with who stood out stoutly for
whatever privilege the original foundation gave him for continuing to
teach the young idea how to shoot! The result was that a conflict of a
semi-legal character arose over the use of the building as to the right
of Henry Watson who was then using the room under a rather uncertain
tenure, but in harmony with the traditions of the place.
The outcome was that the Vestry triumphed, and the room was put in a
proper state of repair for the use of the parish.
The streets of the town were the natural drains feeding the stagnant
ponds. Not only was the Church Lane an open drain, but the piece of
Back Street, between the Cross and Kneesworth Street, was an open
ditch, across which was a plank bridge into the back way of the "Coach
and Horses." The High Street had no paving, but only a rough raised
path running along next the shops. The condition of the street was
such that ladies generally wore pattens and clogs, which were home-made
at Mr. Goode's, and it was no uncommon thing to see gentlemen wearing
them also; indeed, this was a much more common sight than to see a
gentleman wearing a moustache, which was viewed as a curiosity then.
The only person in the town and district then keeping a carriage was
Squire Wortham, in Melbourn Street.
But very little was done in the way of cleaning the streets and the
drainage was simple, natural, and unaided by art. A few years later,
however, about 1824, a beginning was made towards an improved state of
things, and a man was employed to sweep the streets periodically with a
besom at the munificent salary of 36s. 4d. a year! Over the seventy
years that have intervened, this pioneer of our town improvements
stands out clear and notable with his four-penny besom and basket.
That he did good honest work with his birch there is credible testimony
in the parochial balance sheets of the period, wherein appear frequent
entries, at first of 4d. and then of 5d. each, for new besoms, as the
value of that commodity advanced with the greater enlightenment and
more sweeping reforms of the times!
To the same period, the latter part of it, we owe the beginning of that
general system of the "petrified kidney" style of pavement which still
lingers in places. Twopence-half-penny a bushel the material cost our
forefathers! but what, in trials of patience and of temper, have they
not cost the unlucky Roystonians who were destined to walk upon {114}
them for so long and with so little hope of change? It was a cheap way
of serving posterity, but assuredly not a kind one, for the evil of it
is that they never wear out! Farmers and others paid their highway
rates in kind, that is by carting materials, &c., and of this
"composition" according to scale, there were seven farmers in Royston
availing themselves. The first piece of stone paving in our streets
was commenced near the Cross in 1836.
During the earlier years of the century there were no street lamps in
our town of any kind, but people were commonly met in the streets on
their way to Church, Chapel, or to the shops, carrying a lantern and,
in dirty weather, "clicketting along in pattens."
The shop windows were lighted with candles, if at all, and candles were
placed upon the counters, with, of course, the necessity of a pause in
the casting up of an account or serving a customer, to snuff the
candle! Later, when gas came--in July of the year 1836--there was
here, as elsewhere, some prejudice against its adoption, and some
observations on the practical advantages of the employment of coal gas,
were addressed to the inhabitants of Royston by Mr. W. H. Nash,
secretary to the committee of the Royston Gas Company, and printed and
circulated. The price charged for gas was at first 12s. 6d. per 1,000
feet, and consequently it was an uphill work to supersede the tallow
candle and snuffers of our grandfathers!
Water was hawked round the streets at so much a pailful, though a few
wells were open to use on payment, such as that at the White Lion, and
especially the Hoops. The subject of allotments for the labourer is no
new thing, for across the space of sixty years come the stentorian
tones of the Royston Bellman to which we may listen with advantage and
perhaps derive a lesson from what followed upon his message--
"Oyez, Oyez, Notice is hereby given that the industrious poor, both
single and married of this parish, who are desirous of hiring a small
piece of land, are desired to apply at the Vestry Room on the Fish
Hill, to have their names entered to ascertain what each person would
like to have."
The result was that Mr. Valentine Beldam let 11 acres of land near
Larman's, or Lawman's Way, at the upper end of the town, to the
Overseers at 30s. an acre, and it was re-let in roods, half-acres and
acres at the same price to labourers.
For a time the scheme answered well and the state of each man's
allotment was reported upon to the Vestry; but in 1835 it was found
that "in consequence of the land hired of Mr. Valentine Beldam, and
others, being so badly farmed and the rents generally so far in arrear,
that the said land should be given up to the proprietors."
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As to the trade of country towns, there were many more actual makers of
things than now, such as tailors and bootmakers, patten makers,
maltsters; and there were several academies, as the schools for the
middle class were called. Thus in Royston there were the
following:--Rev. Samuel Cautherley, and also Mr. Yorke, Melbourn
Street; John Kent, (gentlemen's boarding,) Back Street (now Mr. A.
Gosling's); Mrs. Towne, wife of the minister at the New Meeting in
Kneesworth Street (1804); Mrs. G. H. Raines, Ladies' School, Melbourn
Street (and also at one time in the house now Dr. Archer's in
Kneesworth Street); Henry Watson, Day School, Fish Hill, (under the
Vestry Room).
The old Post Office at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, was at a
cottage on the London Road, opposite White Hall, and was kept by Mrs.
Daintry and her daughter. The number of letters was very small and one
delivery and collecting of the money for them about ten o'clock in the
morning was sufficient.
Though mail bags were despatched at different hours of the night
according to the arrival of the mail coaches, it was thought
unnecessary for anyone to be on night duty, but the postmaster, or
postmistress, would appear at an upper window in a night cap and let
down the mail bag by a stout cord with a hook at the end, from which
the coachman would take it. The old rope and hook with which this used
to be performed through a small window at the old Buntingford Post
Office (late Mr. Charles Nicholls) are, I believe, still in existence.
Just before the introduction of the Penny Post we find the Post Office
in Melbourn Street (master, Mr. Thomas Daintry) closed at ten o'clock,
but letters were received "between that hour and eleven on payment of
sixpence each"! At that time, however, there was an arrangement known
as the "Royston Penny Post," comprising the parishes of Barrington,
Fowlmere, Foxton, Melbourn, Meldreth, Shepreth and Thriplow.
The posting and delivery of a letter was a different affair then from
now. Envelopes and postage stamps had not been invented. The postage
was paid by the person receiving the letter, and it did not depend upon
the weight of the letter at all, but upon how many sheets it contained.
Two very small sheets or small pieces of paper would count as two
letters and double postage, but an immense sheet of foolscap, or even
folio size, containing many times the writing of the other two, would
only count as one, and letters were as a consequence often curious
looking documents.
As to the cost of postage of a letter the following were the rates
prevailing between Royston and the places named:--Cambridge 4d., London
7d., Norwich 8d., Huntingdon 6d., Newport 10d., Brandon 8d., Cheshunt
7d., Bedford 6d., Buntingford 4d. In the few cases {116} where persons
had friends in America, a letter to them cost 2s. 2d.; to Gibraltar the
cost was 2s. 10d., Malta and the Mediterranean 3s. 2d., postage in
these cases being prepaid. The charge was based upon a scale according
to the distance, commencing with 4d. not exceeding 15 miles. The
transmission of money was "by wagon," and instead of a creditor asking
for a remittance by return of post it was "by return of wagon."
Of the old Inns in Royston it may be of interest to add that the Red
Lion ball-room continued to be a centre of fashionable gatherings
until, with the decay of the posting and coaching business for which
the Red Lion had been chiefly famous, the Bull Hotel (the same owners)
became the leading house. The Red Lion was afterwards given up, the
ball-room, with its associations going back to the Old Royston Club,
was removed and re-erected as the present ball-room or billiard-room of
the Bull Hotel, while its rampant lion which had presented a bold face
to the High Street for more than a century, was removed to a higher
position on the top of Reed Hill, where it now does duty, and has given
a sign to the house standing there. Here, for the sake of auld lang
syne, it gets a bright new coat of paint now and again, and worthily
holds its own as the last relic of a famous old inn, around which so
much of the public life of the town and neighbourhood had revolved for
some generations!
The Bull was originally the "Black Bull," and the Boar's Head the "Blue
Boar's Head." The Bull had stabling for a hundred horses. The Green
Man was a sign that explained itself when, at the beginning of the
century and for some years afterwards, upon an angular sign on the
front of the inn, with faces two ways, was the painted figure of a man
in the green habit of the archer and forester. The "Jolly Butchers" or
"Ye three Butchers," on the Market Hill, and the "Catherine Wheel," in
Melbourn Street, have ceased to be inns.
Such was the outward shell of Royston in the hectic flush of the "good
old times." The taking of the census recently suggests a word with
regard to the population of the town and how it was ascertained in
times gone by. At least, at one decade (1821) the Overseers were paid
a penny per head for taking the population. In 1801 the population was
only 1484, and in 1831 it was 2008. Further particulars of the
population of the town and of the villages in the neighbourhood will be
found in an appendix at the end of this book.
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