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All the United States Connecticut New Haven Judges Cave

Judges Cave

The cave where two British judges hid in exile after sentencing the king to death.

New Haven, Connecticut

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Judges Cave.   2112guy
Judges Cave.   2112guy
From “Trolley Trips Through New England,” 1900.   Internet Archive Book Images
Judges Cave on a 1930s postcard.   Boston Public Library Tichnor Brothers Collection
From “The Three Judges: The Men Who Murdered Their King,” 1873.   Internet Archive Book Images
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About

Edward Whalley, William Goffe, and John Dixwell were three of the 59 British judges who sentenced King Charles I to death in 1649, dissolving the monarchy and placing Oliver Cromwell into power instead. When Charles II, the son of the executed king, was restored to the throne in 1660, he exacted his revenge on the men who had his father beheaded. He issued an order that each regicide should be hanged, drawn, and quartered. In order to avoid this grisly fate, Whalley, Goffe, and Dixwell fled to North America.

John Dixwell stayed in New Haven, Connecticut, while Whalley and Goffe went to Boston. Even across the pond the judges were far from safe. Whalley and Goffe hid in constant fear of being recognized by royal informants. Soon after arrival, a warrant was issued for their arrests, so they joined Dixwell in New Haven, where he had taken on the alias of "John Davids" and been accepted into the community.

Local Puritans, generally Cromwell supporters, took pity on the judges and helped the judges on the lam. At first, they were hidden in the home of the Puritan Reverend John Davenport. When that didn't prove safe enough, Whalley and Goffe were hidden into the woods of what is now West Rock Ridge State Park.

In that wilderness there is a large rock with a few cracks in it. It was here the two judges hid for an unknown amount of time, starting on May 15, 1661, and lasting some weeks on scraps brought to them by sympathetic locals. When a panther forced the pair to acknowledge the impracticality of living in the woods, they fled in the night to Hadley, Massachusetts, where they remained for the rest of their days. In honor of the infamous fugitives, the mini cave was named "Judges Cave" and the path leading up to it, "Regicides Trail." Three diagonally branching streets from the center of New Haven were named after the three judges themselves.

The western side of the cave boasts a plaque which reads, “Here May Fifteenth 1661 and for some weeks thereafter Edward Whalley and his son-in-law William Goffe, members of the Parliament-General, officers in the army of the Commonwealth and signers of the death warrant of King Charles First, found shelter and concealment from the officers of the Crown after the Restoration. ‘Opposition to tyrants is obedience to God,’ 1896.” 

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Caves History Law Crime And Punishment Hidden Secret Ecosystems

Know Before You Go

Take Regicide Drive to the summit, follow the map. West Rock's roads are be open seasonally from Memorial Day weekend until the last weekend in October from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. During the off season, you can park at the entrance and hike the trails or walk the roads to the top.

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hollander

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, erjeffery, e1savage, Gamma Draconis...

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • erjeffery
  • e1savage
  • Gamma Draconis
  • athryn
  • Calvin the Courageous

Published

May 12, 2017

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Sources
  • https://environment.yale.edu/blog/2013/11/welcome-to-judges-cave/
  • http://ctmonuments.net/2012/12/judges-cave-new-haven/
  • http://www.ctmq.org/the-most-judicious-cave/
Judges Cave
Regicides Trail
West Rock Ridge State Park
New Haven, Connecticut
United States
41.338566, -72.966658
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Nearby Places

Statue of "King" William Lanson

New Haven, Connecticut

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Grave of Arthur Twining Hadley

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New Haven

New Haven

Connecticut

Places 17
Stories 3

Nearby Places

Statue of "King" William Lanson

New Haven, Connecticut

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New Haven, Connecticut

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New Haven

New Haven

Connecticut

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Stories 3

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