I've been reading an article on the Royston Cave in Hertfordshire - http://tinyurl.com/3u2vl5b - which, inter alia, discusses the origins of the name "Royston".
The author cites Beldam - http://tinyurl.com/6b2m5eb - " ... the Rev. Mr. Parkin argues, with some force, that the style and title of the Priory, founded in the lifetime of the second Lady Rosia, and called after the name of the Cross, “De Cruce Roæsie,” certainly imply that the Cross itself was at that time of considerable fame, and probably of considerable antiquity. And this inference seems strengthened by the local and vernacular name of the spot, frequently occurring in the earliest Priory deeds, and latinized into “Roœsie,” which is variously spelt “Roys,” “Roes,” “Rous,” and “Roheys,” words which certainly have much of a Scandinavian character, and are not so easily derived from a female Christian name.
Salmon, the antiquary of the county, adopting a similar view, cites the earned Dane, Olaus Wormius, to prove, that among the northern nations, the practice of burning the dead, and heaping a mound over their ashes, was {11} known by the name of “Roiser,” and the tumulus itself, by the name of “Roise.” And various Saxon words, almost identical in sound, and of similar import, such as “Hreaws,” pronounced “Rows,” meaning a funeral; “Reowes,” pronounced “Roes,” signifying sorrow or mourning; and “Rowes,” or “Rous,” implying rest or repose, all appear to confirm the Scandinavian origin of the name, and raise a strong presumption that the original Cross was so called, either from some remarkable funereal mound erected on the spot, or from those numerous tumuli in the neighbourhood, which in its originally wild and open condition, must have formed the chief characteristic of the country, and would naturally suggest the appellation."
Stukely's argument can be found here - http://tinyurl.com/65kr4mj - and that of the Rev. Charles Parkin , here - http://tinyurl.com/3ltxbng.
Do EPNListers have any views on the origin of the name "Royston"?
Jean Kelly
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