Castle at the Cross .. Anything New??

[John Duguid <john.duguid@snl.co.uk>]

Good Morning Sinclairs . What fettle today?

Every few months or so I put out a call for any new information on the "castle
at the cross", So because ther seems to be a number of new list members i'll
give the list a shake and see if anyone has anything new on the subject. Find
below an introduction to the subject posted to the list a while back ( I think
it was the ever well informed Neil from Toronto who supplied this )


>Dear John and Michael; "THe Sinclair Castle" at the cross Nova Scotia needs to
be introduced to some of our clan. For Sinclairs that are interested in the
Sinclair expedition this site is initially mentioned in Michael Bradley's book
Holy Grail Across the Atlantic, Honslow Press 1988. In this book it was put
forward that there was a settlement created which became the Castle at the
Cross in the middle of Nova Scotia by Henry Sinclair and the site has received
some mention in his other books and other writings of the expedition...

I visited the site which is on private lands in 1996 and there is little
evidence remaining of any edifices but what what there was became certainly
significant. I saw physical remains of a well, and stone foundations that were
certainly old. It was not a castle in the sense that we would think of castles.
Anything built and referred to as a castle in 1398 or so referred to more
correctly to a building or buildings that could be fortified but really used as
habitation. There may have been a buildings that were constructed but from eye
level one did not see a huge area being involved. However in my uneducated eye
it was very old, located on a height of land and in the middle of Nova Scotia
between the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic. It was a logical site for an old
habitation and certainly far removed from water access. That sid some backyard
digging had occurred. I had the opportunity to write the owner and speak to
them with the following advice; First that the site should be closed and left
as is until experts could be found to properly conduct an examination. I
further urged that while the site was interesting and controversial (there are
many skeptics) it should receive proper designation as an historical site.
Again the property is on private lands and no site preservation was undertaken
from day one. To make matters worse there was speculation as how to make money
from the site and should anything be of historical interest then the worst one
could do would be to commercialize it with no evidence of what existed. I would
add that the Government of Nova Scotia is not only short sited on historical
matters but when it came to historical preservation it was grossly negligent. I
only hope the site is "preserved" and not dug up until a proper archeological
study can be made. The lead of Clan Sinclair in Nova Scotia may have some more
insights.

I also have no insight whether the site is still rapidly found. It was known to
locals and was the very dickens to find from any published material and it was
not on the historical sites being stuck in the middle of nowhere. If you are
interested in the NS Sinclair Historical tour you may want to check out another
travesty to historical preservation, Oak Island. While I have satisfied myself
that Henry Sinclair did not bury any treasure there this site is one of the
most significant mysteries on the eastern seaboard and should have been
preserved from an historical perspective, and again the people of Nova Scotia
and their government let that site get destroyed too with no care or
preservation of artifacts no study of any kind and a terrible treasure hunt
that turned up nothing. What I did leave this site with is a curiosity as to
how Red Oaks came into the region. Planted from 1398? Again no studies and
hence only books of speculation.

If anyone is following the History in Nova Scotia this summer a couple of spots
are interesting and worth visiting. Louisburg has plaques suggesting that
Prince Henry landed there, and the cannon mentioned in Sinclairs book are there
mostly replicated but they did exist. Of most historical interest is that the
Basques had been visiting Nova Scotia well before 1400 for the Fish and the
Grand Banks. I would not be surprised if others did as well. This area as a
fishing destination was not a surprise to every European. By the way of
interest, Guysbouough NS has also laid some plans for significant celebrations
and the most recent published history of Nova Scotia by Lesley Choyce does
mention the Henry expedition as historical fact.

Hope this helps. Because this network runs on shared information is it helpful
for all of us, if some background is put forward when making an inquiry so we
may all be educated at the same time. Keep up the fine work, it is a most
interesting communication network of clansmen. <


Yours Aye

John

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