New Haven’s Sentinels: The Art and Science of East Rock and West Rock

5. The Judges Cave on West Rock

The Judges Cave on West Rock • Opposition to Tyrants is Obedience to God Plaque on Judges Cave Rock, 1896 56A. John W.Barber (1798–1885), South Western View of the Judges Cave near New Haven. . (John W.Barber,1831.) By adding three persons to his etching,Barber was able to show the size of this large glacial boulder (erratic). 56B. John W.Barber (1798–1885), View from the top of the Judges’ Cave. (John W.Barber,1831.) In the nineteenth century it was possible to see New Haven and Long Island from the top of the Judges Cave boulder (E). Presently the hillside is heavily wooded. A. B. 118 119 A pile of large basaltic rock fragments sits perched on the southeast slope of West Rock. In the nineteenth century, the rocks could be clearly seen from New Haven jutting out above the smoothly glaciated upper surface of the deforested hillside. In 1794, Ezra Stiles, Yale’s sitting president, wrote a book about the “regicides” William Goffe and Edward Whalley, and described their hiding place as follows: The cave is formed on a base of perhaps forty feet square, by an irregular clump or pile of rocks or huge, broad pillar of stone fifteen to twenty feet high, standing erect and elevated above the surrounding superficies of the mountain. Stiles’ description gives the impression of an enclosed and sizable cave, but the mass barely provides space for two individuals. The “rock” was brought to its present site as a single mass by southerly moving glaciers during the last Ice Age and is known as an “erratic.” The relatively small grain size of its minerals differs from that of West Rock and suggests that it originally formed part of a lava flow, most likely the Holyoke sheet, which towers over the city of Meriden. Enveloped in ice, it was transported from there over a distance of about fifteen miles. Since its emplacement, between thirty and twenty thousand years ago, gravity has done its work and the once single erratic broke apart, a process that continues today. Commonly referred to as the Judges Cave Rock, this erratic is unique among the many thousands of glacial boulders spread over New England. It symbolizes an important event in America’s colonial history when William Goffe and Edward Whalley hid in a space between its fragments. These judges, supporters of Cromwell in the Parliament General and officers in the army of the Commonwealth, were among the fifty-nine signers of the Charles I death warrant. After Cromwell’s death, the men fled England and arrived in Boston on July 27, 1661. Shortly thereafter, Governor Endicott received a royal order instructing him to arrest the men. When it became obvious that Boston’s citizens would not cooperate, Charles II sent two of his officers to the city. They were unable to arrest the regicides and were forced to pursue them as they fled southwest, first to Rhode Island and then to Connecticut. 120 | New Haven’s Sentinels In New Haven, Goffe and Whalley found sanctuary at the home of Reverend Davenport who not only hid them but also urged his parishioners not to betray them, preaching a sermon from Isaiah XVI : “Take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noon day; hide the outcasts, betray not him that wandereth.” When Davenport received news that Charles’ agents were traveling to New Haven, he suggested Goffe and Whalley take refuge on West Rock. The story goes that on the road there they met one of the English officers and a fight ensued. Goffe and Whalley, who were trained fencers, were able to fight off their pursuer using their walking sticks. The officer ran back to New Haven to call on his compatriot and the two continued their pursuit on horseback. Hearing their approach from afar, the regicides hid below a wooden bridge across a small stream. Unfortunately the waterway was tidal, and as its level rose, the men found themselves up to their necks in water. They escaped arrest, and the bridge became known as “Neck Bridge.” The fugitives remained hidden on West Rock for almost a month (May 15 to June 11, 1662), after which they were forced again to flee. They moved to Milford, then north to the remote village of Hadley, Massachusetts, where they remained at the home of Reverend John Russell until their deaths. West Rock...