Gloucester Folk Museum will be commemorating the 461^st anniversary of Bishop John Hooper being burnt at the stake, and are inviting people to go and learn more about the martyred bishop. 

Bishop John Hooper, an advocate of the English Reformation, was Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester under the reign of Edward VI, England’s first protestant monarch.

Following the death of the young king, his older, catholic sister Mary, or ‘bloody’ Queen Mary as she has been often been remembered, came to the throne and made England a catholic state again.

Bishop John Hooper was soon arrested and was charged of heresy in January 1555. He was burnt at the stake on 9^th February 1555 in Gloucester.

The ancient Folk Museum building is reported to be the lodgings where Bishop Hooper spent his final night, before being escorted to meet his fate.

Amongst the thousands of interesting artefacts in the folk museum collection, lies a charred stump of a wooden post.  It was discovered in what is now St Mary de Lode churchyard in 1826, and could have been the very wooden stump that Bishop Hooper drew his last breath upon.

Gloucester Folk Museum also has a ceremonial ‘City of London’ sergeant’s mace on display.  It was found under the floorboards of the museum building in Victorian times, and could possibly have been carried by someone in the procession on the fateful day.

Although it is not known if the artefact is genuine, it does date from the reign of Queen Mary I.

A description of the death of Bishop Hooper was written in ‘Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which reads: “…Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” And these were the last words he was heard to utter. But when he was black in the mouth, and his tongue swollen, that he could not speak, yet his lips went till they were shrunk to the gums: and he knocked his breasts with his hands, until one of his arms fell off…..”

Cllr Lise Noakes, cabinet member for culture and leisure said: “Bishop John Hooper is another interesting element of Gloucester’s vast history.

“Why not come to Gloucester Folk Museum during half-term and find out all about it!”

Gloucester Folk Museum will be open every Saturday from 10am – 3pm, and Monday – Saturdays throughout every Gloucestershire school holiday.