East Budleigh’s link to an Exeter Memorial
The Protestant Martyrs’ Memorial in Exeter, at the corner of Barnfield Road and Denmark Road August 1557. The Catholic Queen Mary has been on the throne of England since 1 October 1553. She is determined to reverse the changes in religion that have occurred since the Protestant Reformation took place during the reign of her father King Henry VIII. Over the last two years, since February 1555, a total of 227 ‘heretics’ – men and women, two of them pregnant – have been put to death. All, except for one, were burnt alive. The 228 th is a Cornishwoman by the name of Agnes Prest. Denounced by her husband, she’s been arrested as a ‘heretic’, transported to Exeter and condemned to death by burning ‘for refusing to worship a piece of bread as God’. No doubt she has also caused a scandal by speaking out about such matters of theology, for which women are considered ill-suited. A good wife, say the authorities, should rather concern herself with household matters. Hayes Barton
