A mile from Wolsingham, at the top of Redgate Banks, just off the northbound B6296, a flight of steps climb steeply to a Celtic style cross surrounded by railings.
This is John Duckett’s Cross, erected in 1899 through the efforts of Rev. Mother Mary Clare, of St Anne’s Convent of Mercy, Wolsingham. The cross marks the spot where, on July 2nd 1644, John Duckett was arrested by Roundhead soldiers on the charge of being a Roman Catholic, which was then a crime.
While it is difficult to understand such religious intolerance today, the situation was very different in the 17th century when the Catholic attempts to murder Elizabeth 1 and the Gunpowder Plot were still fairly recent events.
John Duckett was born in Under-winder, Yorkshire in 1613, a relation of the earlier martyr James Duckett, from Westmoreland, who was executed at Tyburn in 1602. Ordained at the famous Catholic College of Douai, France, in 1639, John studied for three years in Paris before returning to the English mission at Durham.
Preaching the Catholic faith with Ralph Corby, both were betrayed to the authorities after holding mass at an unknown house in Wolsingham. They immediately fled the town, but were caught at Pickering Hill, now known as Redgate Head, and taken to London for trial. Both were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 7th September 1644.
Nearby Tow Law has a primary school named after Blessed John Duckett, who was finally beatified in 1929.
Ralph Corby (also known as Ralph Corbington) was born in Maynooth, Ireland on March 25th 1598. He was trained at St Omer, France, and then Seville and Valladolid in Spain before receiving ordination. He entered the Jesuits in 1631 and volunteered for missionary duties in 1632. Given responsibility for the area around Durham City, he worked for twelve years before being arrested at the top of Redgate Banks, Wolsingham with Blessed John Duckett.
He was tried, condemned and martyred with John Duckett, at Tyburn on September 7th 1644.
The Catholic College of Douai, in Artois, France, was established in 1568 as the most promising site to launch the mission to reintroduce the Catholic religion in England. At the time, Douai was part of Burgundy, then owned by the King of Spain.
The idea of an English College did not meet with universal approval , but Jean de Vendeville's enthusiam carried the project forward. The English Catholic William Allen was the first president, though his salary was so poor that he had to take on the additional post of Professor of Divinity. By 1575, the usual number of students at any one time was no less than sixty.
Priests trained at Douai were sent clandestinely to England, Wales and
Scotland until the late 1700s.