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i'm standing on the remote windswept northyorkshire moors. today, to reach here, you just drive an houror so north of york. but before the railways came along in the1830s, it was far easier to get here by sea using the port of whitby, than it wasto come over land. back in the 1600s one man chose to make thesewild lands his home, during some of the darkest daysfor the catholic church in britain. he was a fugitive priest calledfather nicholas postgate. his story isn't that well known,but it is a fascinating reflection of the turmoil between religionand politics at that period.
he died at the age of 83,martyred for preaching catholicism. it was a terrible death for a humblegardener, who legend has it introduced the daffodil to yorkshire. but with so much of his story dating backmore than 300 years, is it really possible to separatefact from fiction? almost a thousand years beforenicholas postgate's life, religious leaders met here in whitby to try and sort out differenceswithin the church. a synod was called for 664adby northumbrian king oswiu.
they met here, at whitby abbey. oswiu had a religious upbringing followingthe doctrine of celtic traditions. despite this, the king decided to changeand follow the rule of rome. this was a decision which was to have a majorimpact on the future of the british isles. catholicism spread across great britain;and all was relatively calm in the church until the fifteen hundreds when european reformists begin to challengethe doctrine of the catholic church. all of this would have perhapshave passed england by, if it wasn't for the small matter ofhenry the eighth wanting a divorce!
in 1502, the eleven year oldhenry tudor was second in line to the throne behind his brother arthur. arthur was only fifteen, but had already been married off to catherine of aragon;in part of modern day spain. but that marriage would only last 20 weeks,before arthur died. keen to maintain a successful spanish union,henry the seventh instead offered his younger son'shand in marriage to catherine. but young henry was reluctant. in fact,he only agreed to the marriage some six years later, when his father died,and he became king.
in 1509, henry and catherinewere finally married. twelve days later, it was his coronation. in the decade that followed,catherine fell pregnant with an heir to the throne many times. but only mary, born in 1515 survived. henry was desperate for a sonto help him defend against any rival claims to the throne. increasingly disillusioned with his marriage,he began to have a number of affairs. by 1525, his affections had settled oncatherine's lady-in-waiting mary boleyn.
but he was also infatuatedwith her sister, anne. anne refused to become the king's mistress,and with catherine no longer able to bear children, henry turned to the bible for guidance. he would have read in leviticuschapter 20, verse 21... "and if a man shall take his brother's wife,it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness;they shall be childless". so henry asked rome to annul his marriage to catherine, but the pope was hearing none of it. a furious henry decided to seize controlof the church. the 1534 parliament
act of supremacy gave him the power he neededto take control and break links with rome. he set about systematically destroyingthe catholic church in england. monasteries like the one at whitby were ransacked to pay for costly wars, and his extravagant lifestyle. rome was practically powerless,all it could do was excommunicate himfrom the church. henry died in 1547, his nine year old sonedward the sixth succeeded him. but he too was to die after just six yearsfrom tuberculosis, however during his short reign he helpedestablish the now independent
church of england as a protestant body with his archbishop of canterbury,thomas cranmer. unfortunately the introduction of cranmer's book of common prayer caused an uprising in devon and cornwallwhich saw the death of 4000 people. edward knew he was dying, but he was determined to prevent the return of catholicism to the country. so he specifically excluded his half-sisters mary and elizabeth fromthe line of succession. mary was a staunch catholic;elizabeth a protestant,
but she had been declared illegitimate,following the death of her mother anne boleyn. instead, edward nominated his 16 year oldcousin, lady jane grey, as his heir. unfortunately history now remembersjane as england's nine day queen, mary seized the throne from her, and janewas executed in the tower of london in 1554. mary and her spanish husband philipreturned england to the catholic faith, but at a great cost. almost 300 protestants were burned as heretics including the former archbishop,thomas cranmer.
her reign was short. after five years,at the age of 42 with no heir, and in an exceedingly weak state,she finally accepted her only legal successor was her half-sister elizabeth. in 1558, elizabeth was crowned queen.she was popular with protestants, partly due to the hatredthat surrounded mary's regime. they also knew she wouldembrace their faith, given the catholic church considered her an illegitimate monarch. but she had to tread carefully to avoid thepossibility of a catholic crusade against her. elizabeth absolutely intendedto carry forward
her father's church of england legacy just over a year after heraccession to the throne, she passed the 1559 acts ofsupremacy and uniformity. these two combined meantyou had to go to your local anglican parish church every sundayand holy-day or face a fine. people would now have to accept elizabethas the supreme governor of the church of england. she believed that the 'old religion,' withoutthe ability to train priests and with no bishops to ordain them,would eventually die out.
but around 1570 the mood began to change, catholics became perceived as a major threat to the crown. the pope issued a papal bullexcommunicating elizabeth as an illegitimate heretic,disputing her right to the throne, and releasing her subjectsfrom obeying any of her laws and orders. two years earlier, the very firstenglish speaking college had been establishedat douai in northern france, to train young priests who could then return to england
to keep catholicism alive.the first arrived back in 1574. twelve years on in 1586,a number of catholic conspiracies were exposed including"the babington plot" to replace elizabeth on thethrone with the catholic mary queen of scots. mary was executed the next year; war with spain was looming, and britain wasfortunate to survive the attempted invasionby the armada. hundreds of young men traveled abroad for training
before returning to secretly ministerthose who refused to conform to the newchurch of england. one of those men wasnicholas postgate. the remote nature of the yorkshiremoors helped catholicism survive the reformationof the church in england. the area was home to a largenumber of staunch "recusant" families; that is families who refusedto attend anglican services and remained loyalto the catholic church, often supported by wealthyand influential catholic gentry
living in these parts. the recusants were alsohelped by the fact that local vicars and constableswould "turn a blind eye" to their refusal to conformto the church of england. with easy access to the seaand plenty of inlets along the coast like robin hood's bay,it was easy to smuggle in catholic priests as thoughthey were contraband! in tight-knit communities such as these,it was essential to maintain good relationships withyour protestant neighbours
for the survivalof the catholic priests, and those who sheltered them. there is a strong local traditionthat nicholas postgate was born in the esk valley,here at egton bridge, about seven miles up river from whitby. what little we do know,is that he grew up in a very humble buildingcalled kirkdale house, none of which still stands today. in fact, even in the 1800s,some 200 years after his death,
it was described as being'literally a cattle shed.' we can't be certain of nicholas'exact date of birth, but believe it was around1596 or 1597. a commemorative stone waserected in egton bridge in 2013 to mark the spotwhere it is believed he was born and grew up. in 1602, nicholas' father jamesdied, leaving his twenty-three year old wife margaret to raise nicholas, william andmatthew alone in kirkdale cottage. we know very little about nicholas' upbringing.but, as catholics, it's likely they would
have been baptised by a passing missionary priest. it being too dangerous to keepcatholic registers at the time. as for church of england, registers, well these were often poorly kept with frequent gaps,and few survive prior to 1650. one set of documentsthat have survived from the time, which were extremelywell kept are the court records. back then, smaller offences were tried in something called "the quarter sessions", that was a court that sat four times a year. records show that a "nicholas poskett",a labourer from egton bridge
was fined in 1616 forbeing a member of the "egton players of interludes". travelling actors and wanderingminstrels were a popular entertainment in the country at the time. they wouldtravel from village to village performing plays and songs. but while the minstrels had organisedthemselves enough to have a royal guild, the travelling actors weresometimes not very good. the government even became suspiciousof the nature of the plays and the songs, fearing they might have political or religiousthemes. or perhaps, even both!
good sir, do you accuseme of blasphemy?! uh- nay sir! but thou can neitherinterpret the word of god, nor the doctrine of thechurch on such basis! but i am king! you are nothingbut a blaggard sir! by my trove, and power legatinewithin this kingdom i shall seize the churchfor mine own! anne!!! local authorities were instructedto crack down on these sort of activities,
whipping and even brandingplayers as beggars or vagrants if they didn't have alicence to perform, and later,even if they did! uh... yes my love? oh, sweetest anne! [inaudible] two well-known local players -robert and christopher simpson were both acknowledgedto be catholic. the local magistrate sir richard cholmley was even
accused of giving them permission to play, and sitting in the front rowof the audience! in 1616, the egton players,including "nicholas poskett" were tried at a local court - the helmsley quarter sessions for performing "popish playsup and down the county", and heavily finedas punishment. we can't be certainthis is the same nicholas, but it would seem likely. there is no other record of the playersin the quarter sessions documents
after this event, so wecan only presume they broke up. magistrate: i find the defendants guilty and fine them 10 shillings each for their actions. elizabeth's act of uniformityrequired catholics to attend a weekly anglican church service or face a fine.but new rules were soon coming to make life increasinglydifficult for recusants. after the failed gunpowderplot of 1605, catholics were forbidden toown a firearm, practice law or medicine,or become an mp. catholics faced punishment on a daily basis.a recusant could be fined sixty pounds
or have two-thirds of his land holdingtaken away from him if he didn't receive anglicansacrament at least once a year. they weren't allowed to travelmore than five miles for their home, and their children weredenied a full education. it became high treason toobey the authority of rome, rather than thatof the king. remarkably whilst some of theseacts were repealed in 1650, others remainedlaw until 1829. contemporary writings reveal thepostgate family suffered for their faith,
being made to pay for not going to church. in the 1616 quarter sessions,margaret was fined 10 shillings, that was equivalentof a month's wages. in the sixteen hundreds, you couldbe expected to live to the age of 35. margaret reached the age of 45 before she died in 1624, her will left the entire family estate tonicholas's elder brother matthew, it was valued atjust forty pounds; enough to buy four horsesin those days. sadly for nicolas, he wouldnot have seen his mother
in the last three yearsof her life. he left england in 1621,bound for france, to train to be a priest. nicholas trained at douaiand one man who can tell me all about father postgate's training is the bishop of middlesbrough, the right reverend terence drainey. i've been invited to ushaw, a daughter college of douai based in durham,to meet him. hello there bishop terry, nice to meet you.nice to meet you too. you're very welcome.
what a beautiful room this is! absolutely magnificent! this was the prof's parlour,where all the professors from the college used to eat all their meals each day.i was in this place for 4 1/2 years. an extraordinary building,so many nooks and crannies! absolutely! built by pugin -even the door you've just opened there, all the door furniture wasdesigned by pugin personally. well it all has a sense of history about it,doesn't it, almost everywhere you go. so why are we at ushaw college? well, i have to give you a little bit of history -during the reign of elizabeth i,
she declared, or decreed that anybody who trainedfor the priesthood outside of her dominions and was ordained by the authority of thesee of rome, was deemed to be a seminary priest, and all seminary priests wereconsidered to be traitors. and so in order to be ableto train for the priesthood, the english church had to set upseminaries outside of england. as a result of that, the first seminaryto be founded was douai college. which was originally in the spanishnetherlands, but nowadays is in france. and that wasfounded in 1668. what do we knowabout douai?
well, it was originally a benedictine monastery.and it was because of that foundation, that the english gentry sent theirsons there to be educated. and also as a result of that monastery andthat school, the seminary was formed there. it was a safe place. it had a tried andtested record, and people trusted it. so, that's why douai became the "mother" andnurturer of all the other seminaries. what sort of personal commitment was this -it sound like there was huge risk involved, and presumably somecost involved too? absolutely, there was a financial cost,particularly in the case of nicholas postgate he was considered to be a "senior scholar".he was in his twenties when he went to douai.
so he would have had some money behind him.he would have had to pay a fee of 300 florins, to be able to train there.so a lot of financial costs. but tremendous personal costs aswell, because any seminary priest was consideredto be a traitor. so, if he was going to return to englandas an ordained priest, and was captured, then he would be put on trial, and if foundguilty, would be hung, drawn and quartered. so a hugepersonal cost really. how long did it take totrain to be a priest? well, it normally took about six years.nicholas entered douai in 1621.
then after a couple of years he wasasked to take the missionary oath which meant that he promised, that ifhe was ordained to the priesthood he would return to england.he wouldn't try and seek a position in france, or spain,or wherever. and then he was ordained in 1628by the archbishop of arris. so a good six years where he would be studyingphilosophy, theology and church history and things like that; just likemen have done throughout the ages when they'retraining for priesthood. after he was ordained, he remained inthe college for a further 18 months,
and he looked after the sacristy; and there's anentry in the diary which says that he was a really, really good help and advantageto the college while he was there. once you were in being trained, was there an opt out?did some people look at the risks and say, "actually, it's not for me",or were they ccommitted? well, i'd say, the very fact that they had themissionary oath meant that there were some who probably did take the easy option -after six years, living in spain, or france, or rome, or somewhere like that, they might say to themselves,"when i'm ordained i'll work here, rather than... ...going back to england."so they had to take the missionary oath in which they solemnly promised thatwhen they were ordained priests
they would return to england, nomatter what the consequences. and when he did go back, postgate had anassumed name. presumably to protect his identity? as soon as he entered douai,he took on an assumed name. most of them had assumed names,they didn't use their own names when they were in seminary. and he took onthe assumed name of "whitmore" and he also used the name "watson",which was his mother's maiden name. you've got to realise that allthe seminaries were infiltrated. so it wasn't secure even once you were in?it wasn't a secret society? oh no! absolutely not. no.
there was certainly infiltration intothe seminaries by government agents. agents of the queen. there is a picture here, whichdates back some considerable way you can see buildings in the distance. do weknow - was it a large seminary or small one? no it was quite a large seminary, not onlydid it cater for training men for the priesthood, but it also educated laymen as well.so it was quite a large institution. sadly, the only thing that's left now isan elementary school (lycee). they have the original alter; thatwas the alter from the seminary. so artefacts survive, and furniture survives;and of course, we're very privileged
here to actuallyhave a douai bible. yes, this particular edition; well it wasthe first edition, printed in 1635. that's a little bitafter nicholas postgate - yeah, but contemporary with him,and his work in the country. this would have been used by the traineeswhen they were in the seminary, and would have been used bypriests in the mission as well. what's humbling to think of, is thepeople who were using this book, this very book, were people putting theirlives at risk to keep the catholic faith alive. absolutely - dying forthe word of god.
without people like postgate, there'sclearly a risk the catholic church withers, possibly even dies inthat part of the country. given that, how important is hein the history of the church? well, he kept the faith going - he and peoplelike him. 'coz he wasn't on his own. he and people like him kept the faithgoing, fed the faith of the people. celebrated the eucharist, celebrated thesacrament, in secret - in people's houses. ministered to the sick and the dying,at the risk of his own safety, you know. so he and his ilk kept the church going in this partof the world, and we owe so much to him, and to his brotherpriests at that time.
nicholas' training at douai cost him thirtypounds, but where did he get the money? we know that his mother's entire estatewas only worth forty pounds on her death. perhaps it was a generous donation from someof the wealthy catholic land owners in yorkshire. after eight years, nicolas was finally a priest.he celebrated his first mass on the 2nd april 1629. a little more than a year later,he returned to england. it was a brave choice, already 140 former studentsof douai had been captured and executed. their average survivaltime - just six months. we know that nicholas arrived back on thenorth east coast, on the 29th june, 1630. he might have made his way to egtonbridge, before walking over 50 miles
to the village of saxton, near tadcaster.where he became the chaplain to sir william and lady janehungate of saxton hall. he knew the risks, and could nothave expected to survive long. but in fact, he would be a fugitivefor the next forty-nine years. the houses of the gentry provided perhapsthe best protection for catholic priests at times of persecution. their power andinfluence could help ensure they weren't caught. nicholas could have hiddenhimself among the hungate staff as a servant,tutor or gardener. after the deaths oflord and lady hungate,
nicholas moved to the seat of theconstable family in east yorkshire. burton constable hall has beentheir home for over 400 years. i've come to see kelly wainwright,curator, who can hopefully shed some light onthe family history. kelly, this is a beautiful house, what sortof time-frame are we talking about? well, the elizabethan mansionthat you've arrived at today was built in the 1560s, but some partsdate all the way back to the 12th century. so tell me about its owners,the constable family. well the constable family were a verywealthy catholic land-owning family.
that can be traced allthe way back to 1190. and it's really in the 1560's,when sir john constable; who had already inherited ahuge amount of land in the area, i think they owned land around 40,000 acres;he was knighted by mary tudor, and he went on to purchase the title"lordship of the seignior of holderness" for the sumof 4000 pounds! that's a lot ofmoney, isn't it! a phenomenal amountof money back them! and did that titlebring extra wealth?
yes, that title gave him more lands, rightsto goods and various other incomes. so, by far, the wealthiestlandowner in this area. and thus, requireda residence to match! but even for the very wealthy, beinga catholic was a risky business then? oh absolutely. we know that theconstable family here were very good at evading many of the penal laws thatwere affecting catholics at this time. and sir henry constable renouncedhis catholicism to avoid paying these. his wife however -lady margaret, was less so! she was the daughter of the staunchlycatholic politician sir william dormer,
and she courted danger through thispriest that secretly ministered to her. which actually got her arrested in the1590s, and she was imprisoned in york. was that a pattern that continued? the womenin the constable family being "very catholic" and not being afraidto worship that way? the constable men certainly didmarry into ot her catholic families, and with lady margaret continuing to residehere as well, that undoubtedly had a bit of influence over her catholicdaughter-in-law as well. so lady mary was also a very devout catholic.and it was her postgate visited, and ministered to her in later years,when she was a widow.
now i understand you havesome documents from the period. can we go andlook at them? yes, certainly. so what we have in here,is a rather unusual document which was drawnup in 1610. and this is an indenture agreement,drawn up between dame margaret and her son - sir henry constable, becauserather unusually dame margaret continued to reside here at the principal familyresidence, when she was widowed, rather than going offto the dower house.
and this is an agreement that sirhenry drew up with his mother just outlining where herchambers would be in the house and what rooms she wouldbe permitted to access, which included the long galleryto walk at her leisure. and undoubtedly the following year, when sirhenry married mary, another devout catholic; his mother probably had quite alot of influence over that decision! you have this scenario where you've gotlady margaret here as well who undoubtedly had a lot of influence overher devout catholic daughter-in-law as well. so this document, sets up the conditions,by which two very devout catholic women
are worshiping togetherunder the same roof. pretty much,yes. kelly, where arewe heading now? okay, so we're headingup into the attic rooms, which were chamber roomsin the elizabethan house. because there's something quiteinteresting, i think you'd like to see. lead on. so in here - these rooms would havebeen lady margaret's chamber rooms. in theelizabethan house.
so as you can see here, we have somehistoric graffiti with the initials "mc". and the cross - which is probably "margaretconstable", although it could be "mary constable". so is this theconnection to postgate? well the connection to postgate isthat wealthy catholic familes, such as this, married into other catholic families.and the early connection to postgate is actually through sir henry'scousin - everilla constable, who married thomas smith of egton bridge,which was the family home of postgate. so there was presumably that linkthere from an earlier date. when mary constable was widowed; sir henrydied at the battle of scarborough in 1645.
she then resided at thedower house at halsham, and we know that postgatelater ministered to her there. father postgate stayed with the constablefamily until 1659 when lady dunbar died. it's then believed he moved to everinghamto be with another branch of the family. during this time, he wouldhave travelled the countryside ministering to the secret catholics; performingbaptisms, marriages, burials and saying mass. around 1662, and now well into his sixties, fatherpostgate returned to the north yorkshire moors. this was a major change. hehad, for the first time, stepped outside the protective environmentof the houses of the gentry.
he adopted the lifestyle of a pauper. he was aloneand as a consequence he was more vulnerable. the a171 is the main road across the moorsfrom whitby to middlesbrough. you can see it gets quitebusy at times today. this remote spot used to be known blackamoor.from here, postgate carried on his ministry work. often travelling great distances on foot.to guisborough in the north; to pickering in the south,and out towards whitby on the coast. he lived on this quiet little lane, in ahumble building called "the hermitage". now clearly back in 1600s,there was no main road, but there was a network of pathways,making this a good place to establish a base
so he could access thecommunity around him. this site today would beunrecognisable to father postgate, but even so, the modern house hereis still known as "the hermitage". victorian records show that postgate'shouse was still standing in 1838. it was a simple thatched cottage with latticewindows and a hearth for a peat fire. a publication of the times - the catholic magazine said:"it was the poorest huts of the poor," "only a cattle shed in appearance. just the smallchimney denoting it as a human habitation." it's humbling to think that postgatelived here for seventeen years, caring not only for the catholiccommunity, but the protestant one too.
he is also said to have brought backsome daffodil bulbs back from france, which he planted outside his homewhere they bloomed each spring. perhaps he was also able to cultivatethem during his time acting as the gardener at hungate and burton constable.we just don't know. however, the sight of such vibrantly colouredflowers, would have been a rarity reserved for the rich. a tulip bulb in thosedays would set you back two guineas. that's 600pounds today! during this time there was a lotof political upheaval in the country. in 1649, charles the first was executedat the hands of oliver cromwell.
meanwhile the protestant puritanmovement was on the rise. then, following cromwell's owndeath, the monarchy returned when charles the secondcame to the throne in 1660. although charles undoubtedlyhad catholic sympathies, having inherited a staunchly protestantparliament, he was in a precarious position. charles did eventually convert tocatholicism, but only on his deathbed. with the politics at play in london, fatherpostgate continued to attend to the spiritual needs of the people of the northyorkshire moors in relative peace. he must have been greatlyrespected. he kept a low profile,
he was disguised as a gardener, and with thecontinued tolerance displayed by local people to recusants; well, no-one seemedprepared to report him to the authorities. traditional beliefs suggestthat secret signals were used; white linen hung out to dry on a particularhedge to announce when mass would take place. and sprigs of may blossom in a window,indicating that mass is said here. as well as houses in nearbyugthorpe and grosmont, father postgate would have said massfor the gentry at grand local houses. and there are stories of isolated sites,well off the beaten track for safety. one site in egton we can be certain offis now known as "the mass house".
just up the road from egton bridge, it's obviouslycompletely changed since father postgate's day, but back in the 1920s, it wasa small thatched cottage. in 1830, a servant girl was cleaning thekitchen. whilst washing part of the ceiling, the plasterwork gave way to reveal a long-forgottentrapdoor with access to a hidden loft. she was amazed to discover a secretroom with an altar, tabernacle and a missal. a crucifix and candlesticksall ready for a mass. there were even priests' vestmentslaid out ready to wear. this loft oratory had a look-outpoint tunnelled through the thatch, and a walled shaft to allow a priestto escape to the nearby woods.
postgate would say mass in the loft,out of sight of his congregation. they would be assembled downstairs in the kitchen.and if anybody approached the house during the service, they would beable to warn him and he could escape. around a century or so later, major renovationwork was taking place to the building. unfortunately the walls collapsed,but hidden in the thatch roof was found a small alms dish and a collection of coins,presumably for father postgate. these objects are some ofthe original relics of his life. and they are on display today atst. hedda's church in egton bridge. at this point the story, it's worthturning to the role of titus oates,
a man regarded by many asone of the villains of history. he was an anglican, a catholic,a baptist and then an anglican again. he was kicked out of the anglican church,a catholic seminary and the navy. at various times in his life he wasconvicted of fraud, perjury and blasphemy. in 1678, oates claimed there was a catholicplot to murder king charles the second. he even tried, unsuccessfully, to implicate thequeen and the king's own brother, the duke of york, laterjames the second. oates presented his evidence to amagistrate, sir edmond berry godfrey. when godfrey turned up dead;oates said catholics had murdered him,
to try and stealhis evidence. as a result of that, three innocentcatholic men were tried and hanged. oates' activity meant a wave of deeplyanti-catholic sentiment swept across the country. after godfrey's death, his manservant john reevesbegan a campaign of revenge against catholics. he became an exciseman here in whitby, possibly because he already had suspicionspriests were landed along the coast. 4 miles south of whitby, liesthe small village of littlebeck. in 1678, redbarn farm was home to matthewand margaret lyth, who were known recusants. unfortunately for matthew lyth, he wasoverheard by john reeves saying,
"the authorities should stop blaming catholicsfor every wrongdoing in the country." suspicions aroused, reeves arrangedfor redbarn to be searched. he was looking for weapons or otherevidence to support oates' popish plot. on the eighth of december 1678,father postgate made his way to the farm to baptise the lyth'snew son, ambrose. it was to be hisfinal ever service. he had barely finished, when johnreeves burst in with the local constables. reeves may not have found evidence for his plot,but from the artefacts discovered in the house, he believed he had caughta catholic priest in the act.
father postgate was arrested,along with matthew and two local farmers. they were all taken fifteen miles south to bromptonhall, where they were charged the next day by local justice of thepeace, sir william cayley. two constables gave evidence that postgatewas known to be working in the area as a priest. perhaps an indication of how even local law enforcement had turned a blind eye to hiswork over the years. cayley decided that there was enoughevidence to commit postgate for trial in york. the two farmers were releasedto help bring in the harvest. matthew though, refused to sayanything to implicate postgate.
for that he spent sixmonths in prison. father postgate was taken to york castle.in the 1500s it was a dilapidated building used as a prisonfor local felons. today, all that remains of the originalstructure is the keep, clifford's tower. nicholas spent the long, cold wintermonths locked up, awaiting trial. though he still had friends,because he received money to help him throughthe tough prison system. tradition has it, he kept himself occupied bywriting a hymn, one that is still sung today. # o gracious god, o saviour sweet,# o jesus, think of me;
# and suffer me to kiss thy feet,# tho' late i come to thee. # behold dear lord, i come to thee# with sorrow and with shame # for when thy bitter wounds i see,# i know i caused the same on march 16th 1679, father postgate wastaken from his cell to the guildhall in york. he was charged, not in connection with thepopish plot, of which he was clearly innocent, but instead with treason, under anancient elizabethan statute. essentially for being a catholic priest,who had been abroad to train, to then return to the country,and practice the religion. even in the late 1600s, father postgate wouldhave been subject to the same sort of trial by jury
we see in a modern day court.much like the people of whitby, it seems that the trial judgewas sympathetic towards him. with no testimony offered from matthew lyth,the judge tried to have the case withdrawn. however, three witnesses cameforward from the prosecution to say they had receivedsacrament "in the popish manner". this room at the guildhall is wherejuries would meet to discuss their verdicts. it was certainly used to decide the fateof other secretive catholics at the time. so it's possible this is where theydeliberated on the fate of father postgate. the evidence presented at his trialwas enough to find him guilty.
the only sentence available wasto be hung, drawn and quartered. postgate was no sooner back in his cell,when one of the witnesses who'd spoken spoken against him came begging forforgiveness. he blessed and comforted her, and even gave her somemoney for the journey home. five months later, on the seventh of august, 1679,nicholas postgate was taken from his cell, tied to a hurdle and dragged through the mudon the street of york on his way to the gallows. but what was supposed to be atorment and humiliation for criminals, became something of atriumphant procession for him. supporters, both catholic and protestantturned to out to wish him well
on what would behis final journey. this is the knavesmire, justoutside of york city centre. here, there was a large wooden frame fromwhich groups of criminals could be hung. among the people executed at this spotinclude the notorious highwayman dick turpin. at the age of 83, and in his final act,nicholas postgate addressed the crowd. "mr sheriff" he said, "you know i die not for the plot,but for my religion. i pray god bless the king and the royal family. i pray you mr. sheriff tellthe king that i have not offended him in any way. i pray god give him his grace andgrant him the light of truth. i forgive all those who have wrongedme and brought me to this death,
and i desire forgivenessof all people." contemporary reportssuggest postgate died quickly. at least he was spared the horror ofthe remainder of his punishment. as a last symbolic gestureagainst the catholic faith, his thumb and forefinger were amputated, asthese held the host during the mass consecration. postgate's body was given to his friends forburial, probably somewhere near this spot. between 1537 and 1680, he was one offifty-two men and women martyred here. only one more followed him,thomas thwing; another douai priest similarlyaccused of a plot against the king.
the excise man john reeveswas paid a three pound gratuity for the chargesagainst postgate. he was later awarded a furthertwenty, for the capture. however, it seems unlikely he everreceived that particular payment. he was racked with guilt. his body wasfound here in the water at littlebeck, less than a mile from red barn farm.the site today is known as "the devil's dump". as for titus oates' "popish plot",well, two years after father postgate died, fifteen innocent people had been executed. butpublic opinion began to turn against oates himself. he was arrested forsedition and perjury.
imprisoned for life, he wassentenced to be whipped through the streets of london,every year, for five days. the judge openly regretted he couldn'timpose the death penalty on oates. but, he was later pardoned by the newmonarchs william and mary in 1689. he died in 1705. pilloried by thecommunity, and largely forgotten. clearly, nicholas postgate is notforgotten in his native eskdale. for over 400 years, people in this valley, andacross the moors have kept their catholic faith despite major social and political upheavals.and it's thanks to the work of people like father postgate that the churchremains strong in these areas today.
many of the known recusants from the 1600sare family names still found in the congregation. so just how successful waspostgate's mission to yorkshire? well, 34 years after he arrived here, he reportedback to douai, and this is what he told them: he had married 226 couples.he had baptised 593 infants. he had buried 791 dead. he'd also brought anestimated 2400 people into the church. this is before you count masses,house visits and confessions. by any stretch of the imagination,that is an incredible achievement. and one, which surely would only have beenadded to in the last fifteen year of his life. today, father postgate remains an iconiccharacter in the catholic and anglican
communities in yorkshire.he was never a divisive figure, and even by people outside the church,he is respected as someone who died forwhat he believed. father postgate's work ishonoured at a rally every july, and in 1987, he was beatified bypope john paul the second, meaning he is now known as"the blessed nicholas postgate". a campaign has been instigated to securethe canonisation of nicholas postgate as a saint. whilst his life and work ispromoted by the postgate society, who meet regularly inegton bridge and ugthorpe.
on our journey though father postgate'slife, we've seen that the records of the time were not always kept accurately.indeed truths were concealed to protect the identitiesof catholic priests. there are so many questionsremaining unanswered. why did hebecome a priest? who paid forhis training? and why did he want toreturn to his home parish? we can't even be surewhat he really looked like. but perhaps the best way to remember him,is as the figure depicted in thomas denny's
magnificent stained-glass window inst hedda's church in egton bridge. it shows an old man walking on themoors, en route to pickering. he is leaning into the wind, a storm isapproaching, and his grey hair trails behind him. this is a gentle, but determinedold man; on a sacred mission.