Bishop Hooper

They charged him with heresy, decided his plight,

They brought him to Gloucester to stay overnight.

Ten thousand people had come to the square,

And gathered to see what was happening there.

They placed him on pyre and told him to stand,

And secured him to stake with a big metal band.

The fire it was lit, the flames they soon grew,

His feet they got hot, and his hands soon did too.

His body did burn from his foot to his shoulder,

The wind it did blow, so the fire it did smoulder.

The fate of the bishop was all now in doubt,

As the wind it got up and the fire, it went out.

A posse was gathered, they collected more wood,

And piled it around him, at the place where he stood.

‘More Fire’ said the bishop, the crowd cried ‘ENCORE’

The fire was ignited, and it started to roar.

He pounded his chest and he started to cough,

And pounded some more till his arm it fell off.

But the bishop was strong he still was not done,

As he carried on pounding with the other one

FORTY FIVE minutes, the bishop he fried,

At which time he gave up, and eventually died

The bishop has gone now, but never forgot,

As now we remember him, right here on this spot.

(The monument can be found just outside the Cathedral entrance )