27 June 2016
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Stratford Martyrs
The Stratford Martyrs - 11 men and two women - were burned at the stake at Stratford-le-Bow, near London, for their Protestant beliefs on 27 June 1556
On this day in history, 1556: A group of 11 men and two women, who became known as the Stratford Martyrs, are burned at the stake at Stratford-le-Bow, near London, for their Protestant beliefs during the English Reformation, under the reign of Queen Mary I of England.
A crowd of 20,000 are said to have watched the executions, detailed in Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Foxe lists the Stratford Martyrs as: Henry Adlington, a sawyer of Grinstead, Laurence Pernam, a smith of Hoddesdon, Henry Wye, a brewer of Stanford-le-Hope, William Halliwel, a smith of Waltham Holy Cross, Thomas Bowyer, a weaver of Great Dunmow, George Searles, a tailor of White Notley, Edmund Hurst, a labourer of Colchester, Lyon Cawch, a Flemish merchant of the City of London, Ralph Jackson, a servant of Chipping Ongar, John Derifall, a labourer of Rettendon, John Routh, a labourer of Wix, Elizabeth Pepper of Colchester, who was pregnant, and Agnes George of West Bergholt.
A large monument was erected in St John's churchyard in Stratford Broadway in 1879 to commemorate the 13 and others who were executed or tortured in Stratford during the Marian persecutions.