The Padley Martyrs

Yesterday, I attended Mass at the Padley Martyrs' Chapel.  It was part of a pilgrimage organised by the Latin Mass Society in the Diocese of Hallam.  Although the congregation was much smaller than I remember from attending this pilgrimage several years ago, there was some very good singing, and the Mass was very beautifully celebrated by Fr Martin Clayton.

All that remains of Padley Hall is the gatehouse and a few tumbledown ruins.  However, the gatehouse has been restored and now serves as a chapel and place of pilgrimage.  The martyrs concerned are Nicholas Garlick and Robert Ludlow who were priests discovered there in July 1588 by a raiding party instigated by the Earl of Shrewsbury.  Both were subsequently executed for High Treason.

Padley is set amidst beautiful countryside in a corner of the Peak District that is only a few miles from Sheffield.  The chapel can be accessed by a rough track that leads form Grindleford Station up into the high ground of the northern Peak District National Park.  It is much visited by walkers.

Much can be learned about Padley by reading Hugh Benson's classic book, Come Rack, Come Rope.  It tells of the persecution of Catholics in that part of Derbyshire during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.