As the long summer day of August 22, 1697, yielded to the lengthening shadows of eventide a very gallant gentleman, just over 80 years of age, was drawn on cart to Widemarsh (or Wigmarsh) Common, to the north of the City of Hereford, and hanged as a felon.

He was John Kemble a secular priest, and the “crime” for which he paid so terrible a penalty was purely his profession of the Catholic faith.

Father Kemble - But if the revolting drama of Widemarsh Common terminated the earthy existence of the Ven. John Kemble, it enabled him to enter upon immortality, and served to leave adherents of the Catholic faith the memory of a noble life and still more noble sacrifice.