Roundheads and Regicides

Old gravestones - very weathered and eroded

The Regicide’s Grave- This grave in the Lower Village Cemetery is believed to be the burying spot of William Goffe, “Stow’s Regicide.” Goff was one of the generals in Oliver Cromwell’s army in England who signed the death warrant for King Charles I in 1649. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, his life in peril, he fled to New England. A man identified as “John Green” subsequently appeared in Stow (one clue that he was Goffe: Goffe’s sister was married to one of the town’s original proprietors) and lived out his life operating a small business. “Green” asked that he be buried in an unmarked grave under an immense slab to prevent his body from being disturbed. When researchers opened the grave in the 1930s, they found a skeleton with the head and hands missing – presumably taken as proof for the £50 bounty on his head.

3 Replies to “Roundheads and Regicides”

  1. Who was Goffe’s bother-in-law the original proprietor of Stow?

    Thomas Whitney the second of that name in Stow was married to Elizabeth Lawrence her grandmother was Joanna (Goffe) Crispe (1619 – 1698)

    William Goffe was married to the Daughter of Edward Whalley (c. 1607 – c. 1675) another of the regicides

  2. Petrus

    Who was married to the sister of the “Regicide Goffe”?

    Goffe or Green or the “Angle of Haddley” as he may have been known was also married to the duaghter of “Regicide Whalley”

    I don’t think that Whitney reference is close enough there must be something else.

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