Bloody Mary and the Protestant martyrs.

"When William Mainarde, his maid and man,
Margery Mories, and her son,
Denis Burges, Stevens and Woodman,
Grove's wife, and Ashdon's to death were done,
When one fire at Lewes brought them death,
We wished for our Elizabeth."

June 22 1557 10 protestants were burned to death in one fire outside the town hall in the centre of Lewes during the Reign of Mary "Bloody Mary" Tudor. But the people of Lewes had to wait more than a year to get their wish. She died on 17th November 1558 and Elizabeth became Queen.
Mary was a Catholic just like her mother Catherine of Aragon and wanted to get the country back to the true faith and took extreme measures to get the country back to Papal supremacy. A great many protestants were executed in the most grisly manner during her reign.
There were a total of seventeen protestant martyrs burned in Lewes During Mary's reign and there are several memorials to them in and around the town. The remembrance of these martyrs is still made during the Bonfire night celebrations on the 5th November when the torchlit processions pause at the the town centre memorial. The whole celebrations give a peculiar anti-Papal feeling, especially when the Cardinal is booed through the streets.

Everyone likes a good firework display and there are 6 to chose from in Lewes on the night of the 5th, the town looks like a war zone!


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