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Ouse Bridge

There has been a bridge on this site since at least the twelfth century and there has been a long and varied history intertwined with the Catholic faith. Margaret Clitherow, a Catholic convert, was executed here for hiding Catholic priests in 1586. On Good Friday Margaret was taken from the prison which stood at the end of the bridge to the Ouse bridge toll booth, (only seven yards from the jail), where the sentence was carried out. She was stripped naked and laid upon the floor of the toll booth, with a sharp stone under her back. A quantity of seven or eight hundred-weight stones were placed upon her which broke her ribs, causing them to burst through her skin. She was reported to have died after fifteen minutes.

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