27/08/2026
On this day, Wednesday 27th August 1679, 347 years ago, David Lewis was executed in Usk, Wales.
But why?
In 1534, Henry VIII had taken the country away from the Catholic Faith, putting himself as the head of the church instead of the Pope. His son, Edward, was a fervent Protestant, but died young at fifteen. His sister, Mary, took the country back to the Catholic Faith again, but under Elizabeth I it was back to the Protestant Faith.
It isn't surprising that people were fearful of another change. In 1581, under the reign of Elizabeth I, a law was passed that preaching or writing to draw people away from the Church of England to the Roman Catholic faith was classed as high treason. The penalty was being hung, drawn and quartered.
This law still existed in the 1600s and in 1678 King Charles II issued a proclamation for the immediate arrest of all Catholic priests after fears had been stirred up again. Under that law, they could be prosecuted and condemned to be hung, drawn and quartered.
David Lewis secretly held mass and promoted the Catholic religion in Abergavenny and surrounding areas, including in a secret chapel on Cross Street in Abergavenny. He could not acknowledge the King as head of the church, as in his religion, the Pope was its head.
He was prosecuted for this under the Elizabethan law and executed in 1679.
David Lewis became the last Catholic martyr in Wales when he suffered the gruesome death of being hung, drawn and quartered on 27th August 1679.
A plaque in Usk graveyard marks where he was buried.
