The Templars founded the nearby town of Baldock in the 1140s and are documented to have traded weekly at Royston's butter market between 1149 and 1254. Local historian Sylvia Beamon believes the cave was a pre-existing structure that was used by the Templars to store perishable food, for their many daily prayers and to stay overnight on market days, after they had several documented disputes with the Prior of Royston and so were no longer welcome in Royston Priory.
