The analysis found that the short male costumes and the headdresses and hairstyles of the women both point to a time between 1360-90, and the Saint Christopher carving was dated to the same era. The report concluded that it was unlikely that any of the carvings were executed before about 1350 – a century after the Templars were active in Royston, and decades after their widespread suppression. What’s more, the carvings feature Christian iconography, lacking the symbolism typically associated with the Templars – depictions of the Holy Sepulchre and Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, for example, or of two knights riding one horse.
Although the Knights Templar were known for building round churches, the circular shape of the cave does not necessitate a Templar link either – the greatest proliferation of round churches is in Scandinavia, where no Templars ever set foot. Nor is the presence of Pagan symbols such as the sheela na gig particularly mysterious; the same image appears in medieval churches across Britain and Europe.
Why, then, the supposed Templar connection? Perhaps the things that make for a good story now also made for a good story in 1742. “The risk here is people have been wanting to tell stories since day one: ‘Come and see the Templar cave!’,” said Tobit Curteis, the conservator of the cave. “Just because someone made up a story 300 years ago, it doesn’t mean it was any more true back then than it would be now.”
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 