Westford Knight
Encyclopedia
Westford, Massachusetts
Westford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,951 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally a part of neighboring Chelmsford, West Chelmsford soon grew large enough to sustain its own governance, and was officially incorporated as Westford on September 23,...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is notable for being the subject of controversial speculation that it is evidence of exploration of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
by Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans prior to Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
. This interpretation is not accepted by professional archaeologists or historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s.
The rock is located along Depot Street in the town of Westford, just north of the town center. It is inconspicuous, situated along the side of the road and surrounded by a small chain fence. Next to the rock is a small monument commemorating the "inscription".
Description
The rock and carving is first mentioned in print in an 1883 town history, identified as an Indian carving: "A broad ledge which crops out near the house of William Kitteredge has upon its surface grooves made by glaciers. Rude outlines of the human face have been traced upon it, and the figure is said to be the work of Indians." The carving was subsequently identified as a broken Norse Sword by William Goodwin in his book on the America's StonehengeAmerica's Stonehenge
America's Stonehenge is an archaeological site consisting of a number of large rocks and stone structures scattered around roughly within the town of Salem, New Hampshire in the northeast United States. America's Stonehenge is open to the public for a fee...
site. Frank Glynn, president of the Connecticut Archaeological Society, re-located the carving and following discussions with Thomas Charles Lethbridge
Thomas Charles Lethbridge
Thomas Charles Lethbridge was a British explorer, archaeologist and parapsychologist. According to the historian Ronald Hutton, Lethbridge's "status as a scholar never really rose above that of an unusually lively local antiquary" for he had a "contempt for professionalism in all fields" and...
over Goodwin's theory, chalked in a full figure in 1954, resembling a Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
knight, with a sword and shield, and he is usually said to be the "discoverer of the Westford Knight." It was Lethbridge who suggested to Glynn that the sword was not of Viking origin, but was "a hand-and-a-half wheel pommel sword" common in 14th century North Britain.
The current interpretation by those who advocate that the feature on the rock is a human figure is that it commemorates a fallen member of the party of Henry Sinclair
Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney
Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and feudal baron of Roslin was a Scottish nobleman. He is sometimes identified by another spelling of his surname, St. Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel...
, a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Earl whom some believe to have made a voyage to the New World in 1398, traveling to Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. The existence of such a voyage is not accepted by mainstream archaeologists and historians. Usually it is claimed that the knight is Sir James Gunn, a member of Clan Gunn
Clan Gunn
Clan Gunn is a Scottish clan associated with northeastern Scotland, including Caithness and Sutherland as well as the Orkney Islands.The clan's origins stretch over the sea to Norway, and the Clan Gunn themselves claim descent from the legendary viking Sweyn Asleifsson, the progenitor of the clan,...
and a Knight Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
who reportedly traveled with Sinclair. The monument next to the "knight" commemorates this interpretation, stating as fact that Sinclair and his party traveled to present-day Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Believers in this theory often cite the Newport Tower
Newport Tower (Rhode Island)
The Newport Tower is a round stone tower located in Touro Park in Newport, Rhode Island ....
in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
as further evidence to support their claim.
Such claims are rejected as pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology — also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, or cult archaeology — refers to interpretations of the past from outside of the academic archaeological community, which typically also reject the accepted scientific and analytical methods of the...
by mainstream historians and archaeologists, who believe the knight is the product of Frank Glynn's imagination. A recent investigation of the rock by David K. Schafer, Curatorial Assistant for Archaeology at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, and is particularly strong in New World ethnography and...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, http://www.ramtops.co.uk/westford.html concluded that except for the "sword handle", which is definitely a punch carving, the entire feature consists of naturally-formed scratches caused by glaciation
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. The local town historian of Westford has stated that there is evidence that the T-shaped inscription was made in the late 19th century. Furthermore, historians believe that the area around the rock has undergone erosion since the clearing of trees in the 18th century, and that during the time of the alleged voyage by Sinclair, the rock was probably in a hardwood forest covered by 3 or 4 ft (1 or 1.3 m) of earth. Moreover, the area of Westford is inland and not easily accessible by water, making it highly improbable that any nautical voyage would venture there. It may be worth noting that the carving sits alongside a current road which lies on what would have been a natural path used to descend the hill through the woods. Had the expedition been made, and had the expedition decided to pass through this specific area, this was a likely route for the group to follow. However, there is no evidence that Sinclair or Gunn ever actually traveled to the Americas.
Some suggest that the timing is also inconsistent with history, as at the time of the alleged voyage (1398), the Order of the Knights Templar was not in existence, having been publicly disbanded ninety years earlier. However, there are those that claim that the order continued to exist "underground" after that time.
Books
- Frederick J. Pohl, Prince Henry Sinclair: His Expedition to the New World in 1398 1974, Clarkson N. Potter, New York: ISBN 1-5510-9122-4
- Robert Ellis Cahill, New England's Ancient Mysteries 1993, Old Saltbox, Danvers, Mass: ISBN 0-9626162-4-9
- David Goudsward, Ancient Stone Sites of New England 2006, McFarland Publishing: ISBN 0-7864-2462-1
- David S. Brody, Cabal of the Westford Knight : Templars at the Newport Tower : a novel 2009, Martin and Lawrence Press, Groton, Mass: ISBN 0-9773898-7-1
- David Goudsward, Westford Knight and Henry Sinclair 2010, McFarland Publishing: ISBN 0-7864-4649-8