Saint Margaret Clitherow was a butcher’s wife who converted to Catholicism and permitted mass to be said in her house despite this being a crime at the time. Her house on the Shambles was eventually searched and sufficient evidence gathered to condemn her to death. She was sentenced to death by crushing as a result of not offering a plea for fear of her family being forced to give evidence thereby putting them at risk. Margaret was executed in this brutal manner in 1586 and was subsequently canonised in 1970.