Martyrs' Memorial

This stop considers the UN Human Rights Article 18: “where everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.” At this junction is the grand Martyrs’ Memorial, a Victorian monument to the three men, erected by public subscription in 1841. The Oxford Martyrs in 1555 and 1556 were three men who were legally burnt at the stake for their Protestant beliefs (against the Catholic rule).

A cross in the centre of Oxford’s Broad Street marks this spot. The men were Hugh Latimer, once Bishop of Worcester, Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. They were only three of the 280 executed by fire for heresy during the short 5-year reign of Mary I, when England officially, and briefly, returned to Roman Catholicism. If you visit the beautiful University Church of St Mary, this is where Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer were tried.