Royston Cave Day.
Originally the sole purpose of my trip, now reduced to a bit part player. Still, I’m quite keen to revisit. Looking back through my photographs, it turns out that it is almost exactly 8 years since a last went there. Tempus fugit!
My appointed tour slot for the cave is not until 1:30pm, so this gives me some time to explore some other stuff before hand, and I head back into the Abbey gardens for a closer luck, whilst it is quiet, first thing in the morning.
Of course, being a full on card carrying nerd, and having just discovered that this exists, I will also need to visit the world’s first (only?) internet enabled bench. Yes, bizarrely this is within the Abbey Gardens. Apparently back in the day (how quickly the times changed) it had a dial-up connection to the internet. I’m kind of sad that it is no longer active - not that I would be connecting any device to a public bench!
Inner geek satisfied, I head in the direction of Royston, having determined that I can stop at the Wandlebury Ring, just outside Cambridge. This is a large iron age hillfort surrounded by a ring ditch, which I duly circumnavigate
Yes. It’s a ditch. In a ring. Does exactly what it says on the tin.
Actually it is quite an impressive size and is a multivallate (having multiple concentric layers of rings and ditches, which are far less common than those with just a single defensive ring) hillfort. It was a stronghold of the Iceni - one of the last hold outs against the Romans in Britain. There is also a roman road nearby - presumably to facilitate the delivery of lethal force to deal with the irksome Iceni. If it was still in use during Roman times then I guess there is a fair chance that Boudica (as queen of the Iceni and leader of the rebellion) would have spent time here. Oh, and it’s on the Mary line.
OK. Quite a significant site then. I take back my earlier disparaging comments and hang my head in shame!
No time to dwell on that, its time to head to Royston.
Royston Cave is something of an enigma. It was rediscovered a couple of centuries ago, but may have originally been dug in neolithic times. The cave is underneath the crossroads in Royston where Icknield Way (possibly the most ancient path in Britain) crosses the Roman Road Ermine Street (itself likely to have been built over an older path). It is also one of the points where the Michael and Mary energy currents cross.
No one really knows what the cave was used for. Possibly a wayside hermitage? There is a suggestion that it was used by the Knights Templar. The original cave had a platform in it and there is a theory that the upper part was used as a storage space / safe by the Templars when they came from their nearby stronghold at Baldock to trade.
The lower part of the cave may well have been used as a ritual / initiation space and is absolutely covered in carvings - most with Christian / Templar iconography, but also some pagan images such as Sheila-na-gigs.
Fascinating place.
Oh and the circular design (there are two on different walls) seem to mark the spots where the energy lines enter, so I suspect it was no accident that this location was used as a ritual space.
Obviously I need to get the dowsing rods out to test the Michael/Mary crossing, but I had forgotten how small the space is and nearly take someone’s eye out with a very lively rod. I decide to wait until people start emptying out before completing my quick survey…
I have a few more places that I want to visit in East Anglia, but most are further east, back past Bury St. Edmunds, so I will visit those on my way up to visit friends in North Norfolk tomorrow and opt instead to head for Grimes Graves.
This is a large area containing more than 400 pits dug to mine flint. I gather that more easily accessible flint was available but there was something special about the flint here which encouraged people 4500 years ago to start digging and go to extreme lengths to extract it. The site is impressive, but hard to get a feel of from ground level.
But some online aerial photographs give a better idea of the scale.
One of the pits is open to the public to descend into and they have done a pretty good job of creating animations projected on to the pit walls.
By the time I have finished pottering around here, it is pretty warm and I feel some refreshments are in order, so time to make the short drive back to Bury and visit a local hostelry.
I decide that the Fox Inn, just across the Abbey Gardens from my hotel looks reasonable and head out. Whilst I am tucking into my veggie bangers and mash, a couple of bikers sit down at the next table and strike up a conversation.
They were lovely people, but instantly tried to engage me on some political hot topics. I generally make it a rule not to get drawn into political conversations with people when I am travelling. The conversation pivots into conspiracy territory (I am laughing at myself at this point that I find this less of a red flag and far more entertaining) and I estimate it takes about 3 minutes to get to blaming the Rothschilds for all the world’s ills.
Oddly, the conversation then turns to earth energy and it seems that the chap is a dowser. Of course at this point I have to come clean about my “mission” and he asks me if I had been to Thetford Castle, which is apparently energetically interesting and also interesting for various other reasons which I wasn’t entirely following. Annoyingly, I was very nearby Thetford earlier (this is where Grimes Graves is) and now will have to try and go back. To be fair, it isn’t very far from Bury, so shouldn’t take too much of a chunk out of my day tomorrow.
It turns out that this is a pretty impressive place. It is a Norman Motte and Baily Castle built within a large, much earlier hillfort. Also, a stronghold of the Iceni - the guy who directed my here said that this was actually Boudica’s base.
There is definitely an energy line running through this and I’m beginning to wonder whether the Normans built these Mottes, or just reused ancient mounds that they found lying around all over Britain…
One to mull over / research.
I am briefly tempted to head into town when I see on Google maps that there is a Dad’s Army Museum, but this is not enough of a draw to keep me off mission - this of course being to get to the eastern-most crossing point of the Michael and Mary lines.
En route, I stop to take a look at Eye Castle. Also a Motte and Bailey, also on the Michael line. I am getting very suspicious about this now!
Then finally, off to Hopton-on-Sea, for the final crossing point of the lines at the ruins of Hopton St. Margaret’s church. The lines pass through the church but don’t, as far as I can tell, terminate here, so I presume that the would have carried on into Doggerland before the sea took it, and then presumably towards Denmark and Sweden. Interesting that these are places with some of the highest concentrations of megalithic sites outside of Britain.
It is strangely satisfying to have covered so much of the alignment in the last few months but of course it does mean that I will have to get back to Cornwall at some point for the sake of completeness, otherwise it will no doubt nag at me! :-)
Anyway, nice to have a day trip spill over into a long weekend and, with nothing pressing to take me home, I can now head off to spend some time with old friends in North Norfolk.
Retirement continues to be hell.