Worcester.

Earlier this year I visited the site of the ancient gallows at Worcester. The site at Red Hill, on the east side of the town, grid ref SO867537, on the south side of the roundabout where the A422 joins the A44 going into Worcester. Here a memorial to the Catholic martyrs who were executed here was erected in November 1939.

The memorial, which is a standing crucifix with a plaque commemorating especially St John Wall OSF, stands in the driveway of a small new housing development just off the Whittington Road. It is a public memorial and yet it is the focus of the open lawn area in front of the new houses. The photo above shows the memorial looking north, up the driveway, to the main road.

This is the site of the old gallows of Worcester used for executing felons, condemned at Worcester, until July 1809. Here also were hung, drawn and quartered for their Catholic faith:

Blessed Edward Oldcorne SJ, priest, and Blessed Ralph Ashby SJ, lay brother, on 7th April 1606.

St John Wall OFM, priest, on 22nd August 1679.

If your are visiting Worcester do pay a visit to this dignified shrine to these great martyrs of the Church.

In the photos below you can vaguely make out the small mound with a tree at its centre. This mound is thought to be the actual site of the gallows; the tree at its centre is, I understand, a pear tree. The other photo is of the memorial plaque which commemorates St John Wall.

Also executed here on 7th April 1606 were John Wintour and Humphrey Littleton, for their part in the Gunpowder Plot.