North of London, in the small town of Royston, there is one mysterious cave created by men many centuries ago and, since then, the local inhabitants have been defending and hiding access to it. However, by chance, in the 12th century, Royston became an important trading post: only after this event were workers allowed to enter the cave.
The town of Royston lies along Melbourne Street, formerly known as Ickneild Way, a road that wound towards the plain on which the Stonehenge complex, Salisbury, shines. Throughout history, it has been frequented by prehistoric tribes, by invading Romans, by the Knights Templar and… by ordinary workers.
A man, in August 1742, had the task of setting up a bench in the butter market place, when he was impeded by a round millstone, underground, which hid a well about thirty feet deep, which led to a cave whose walls were covered with carvings decorated with religious scenes.
The citizens were sure that the cave hid a great and precious treasure, but they found little more than a few pottery and bone fragments. We do not know for sure who created Royston’s Cave, nor what its purpose was. As you can well imagine, the theories that would justify the genesis of the cave are very imaginative and disconnected from each other: there are those who think it was a deposit for Augustinian monks and those who believed it was a secret meeting place for early Masonic lodges related to King James I Stuart.
Historians tend to corroborate theories that see the site as a meeting point for the Knights Templaras the petroglyphs seem to depict the symbols of the Templarsalso present in Israel since the time of the Crusades.
[Joseph Beldam/Wikimedia Commons]
