I love to think of old lpswich town;

That house at your right, a rod or more,

Where the stern old elm-trees seem to frown

If you peer to hard through the open door,

Sheltered the regicide judges three

When the royal sheriffs were after them,

And a queer old villager once I met,

Who says in the cellar they're living yet.

When Cromwell ascended the throne of England the deposed monarch was put on trial before three judges and condemned and put to death. The judges were known as the Regicide Judges and became objects of scorn in England. With the fall of Cromwell and his followers, the judges feared for their lives and fled. Where they went is not known. Except for a few individuals who lived in early Ipswich

There were many who swore that in a certain house on East Street in Ipswich there were three strange visitors. Men dressed in dark suits who did not come out except on dark nights. They were not seen by those visiting that house. Perhaps they lived in the cellar or stayed there when visitors came. For many months the three lived there.

At the time the English Sheriffs were searching all over the world for the three judges. Some were even dispatched to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and rumor had it even visited Ipswich but no sign was ever seen of the judges.

Nothing is known of the three strangers in the house on East Street. They simply faded away, if ever they were there to begin with. Were they the Regicide judges?

Older residents remember walking by that house many years later and tell of seeing lights and men in the basement still. They may even be there still. Have you walked by that house on East Street and seen a light in the basement?

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