In 1510, the 10 Coventry Lollards were forced to carry faggots through the city as a symbol of their deaths by fire for heresy. All recanted and were spared, except one, Joan Ward, who was burned at the stake in the Park Hallows, Little Park.   Just nine years on from this terrible act, the issue of language once again led believers into trouble. The Catholic Church also ruled that all prayers should be said in Latin, but a group of 'heretics' were discovered in Coventry daring to pray in English. Thomas Lansdail, Hosea Hawkins, Thomas Wrexham, Robert Hocket and Thomas Bond all met their deaths for this heinous crime. They were burned at the stake in a park close to the city. A memorial to their fate now stands on the island above the Coventry Ring Road at the junction of New Union Street and Quinton Road.
	THE SAD STORY: The inscription on the Martyrs' Memorial in Coventry.

Ironically, in the next few years Henry split with the church in Rome and the Reformation and the change of England to a Protestant country began. However, the balance of power later shifted once more with the short reign of Queen Mary who decided to bring back the old Catholic faith. Those who did not agree were treated harshly including a Lawrence Saunders, who, although based in London, was well known in Coventry. He was burned at the stake for continuing to preach the new religion. 

In Coventry a Protestant Robert Glover was brought from his sick bed and taken to Coventry Jail. Also accused were his brothers John and William. The trio were all eventually burned at the stake for refusing to preach the Catholic faith. 

The burnings continued in the next few years during the Catholic revival. John Carlesse, a weaver, was taken with his wife and children to London and imprisoned after being found guilty of heresy. He escaped the flames but died in prison in 1556. Another sufferer was university-educated Jocelyn Palmer, the son of a Coventry mayor, who changed his faith to Protestant after witnessing burnings. For this, he too, was burned at the stake in July, 1557.