poliphilo

This tiny church- which sits at the end of a farm track, about a mile from Ribchester- was once the chapel of a hospice run by the Knights Hospitallers. Although owned by the Anglican Church, it contains the graves of several post-Reformation Catholic clergymen- including a Bishop. This may have something to do with the tradition that the Catholic martyr Margaret Clitheroe is buried in the chancel.

Margaret Clitheroe was executed (with inventive cruelty) in York in 1586. According to legend her body was rescued from the dung heap where the executioners had thrown it, transported to a safe house in Lancashire and finally buried at Stydd in the 18th century after the keepers of her secret shrine were dispossessed for supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie. The flagstone over her supposed grave is marked with a deeply (but roughly) incised cross.