The Stratford Martyrs Memorial is a memorial that commemorates the group of 11 men and two women who were burned at the stake together for their

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

beliefs, at Stratford-le-Bow or Stratford near London in England on 27 June 1556, during the Marian persecutions. In 1879, a large monument was erected in St John's churchyard in Stratford Broadway, to commemorate the 13 and others who were executed or tortured in Stratford during the persecutions. Designed by J T Newman, it consists of an ornate

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexa ...

al column, capped with a 12-sided

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

rising to a height of 65 feet. One side of the column carries a

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

plaque, sculpted in relief, based on the illustration of the martyrdom in Foxe's book. The other panels carry the names of the 13 martyrs, together with Elizabeth Warne (burnt 23 August 1555), Stephen Harwood (burnt 30 August 1555), Hugh Laverock and John Apprice (both burnt 15 May 1556). Also included are Patrick Packingham, who was actually executed at

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

and the Reverend Thomas Rose, the

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

All Saints Church, West Ham All Saints Church is a parish church in West Ham, an area in east London. It has been a Grade I listed building since 1984. History Medieval and Tudor In the medieval era the church's parish included all of West Ham, with the one exception of th ...

, who ''"was tortured and exiled for preaching against

auricular confession Confession, in many religions, is the acknowledgment of one's sins (sinfulness) or wrongs. Christianity Catholicism In Catholic teaching, the Sacrament of Penance is the method of the Church by which individual men and women confess sins ...

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...

purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

and images"''.St John's Church, Stratford E15: The Martyrs Memorial
/ref> The memorial is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on the National Heritage List for England. The monument was paid for by public subscription; the chairman of the appeal committee was Rev.

William Jay Bolton William Jay Bolton (31 August 1816 – 28 May 1884) was the first artist in the United States to design and manufacture figural stained glass windows.Clark, p. 40 ''Bolton was now prepared to undertake a larger project, an impressive array ...

, the Vicar of Stratford. It was inaugurated in a ceremony on 2 August 1879, presided over by the Earl of Shaftesbury, who made a strongly anti-Catholic speech. The opinion of ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

'', a national weekly newspaper, was that ''"Language of this sort is better calculated to wound the feelings of many good people than to break down barriers that already too effectually divide the different denominations."''The Graphic: August 9, 1879 (p.139) – MARTYRS' MEMORIAL
/ref>

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Architecture, Christianity, London Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Newham Grade II listed monuments and memorials 1879 in London 1879 establishments in England Martyrs' monuments and memorials Stratford, London *