Bishop Hoopers Lodgings (Gloucester)
The house named Bishop Hoopers Lodgings is a picturesque timber framed building in the ancient cathedral city of Gloucester.
It stands in Westgate Street, opposite St. Nicholas Church.
It acquired its name because it was here that Bishop John Hooper spent the night before being burned at the stake during the reign of Mary I in 1555.
John Hooper was a former monk of the Cistercian order, who fled from England in 1541, because of his revolutionary religious views.
He was appointed Bishop of Gloucester in 1551, during the Potestant reign of Edward VI, but refused to accept the position unless he could abandon what he regarded as inappropriate details of the consecration service.
He proved to be an excellent Bishop, but the reversion to Catholic values on Mary's accession made him an obvious target.
He was burned at the stake outside St. Marys Gate, one of the gates of Gloucester Cathedral. It is said that his death was even more agonising than was usual at this dark, terrifying and shameful period of English history.
A room over St. Marys Gate was used as a vantage point for well heeled spectators at the Bishop's burning.
Today, Bishop Hoopers Lodgings, having been used in the 18th and 19th centuries as a pin factory, houses the excellent Gloucester Folk Museum.
Among the exhibits are displays of local crafts and industries, and schoolchildren can dress up in period clothes.