ON the south side of Worcester in Timberdine Avenue stands the Roman Catholic high school opened in 1963 and now titled Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College.

But who was Edward Oldcorne? Considering he became known as The Apostle of Worcestershire and was considered the county’s very own martyr, my guess is that among the hoi polloi he’s nowhere near as famous as he should be.

So come with me back to the days of the Gunpowder Plot, priest holes, torture racks, disembowelling and other delights. Edward Oldcorne (his name is spelt without an “e” in old documents) was a Jesuit priest from Yorkshire who came down to Worcestershire to offer comfort and succour to those committed to the same cause.

It was the age of the Puritans and under the cloud of constant Protestant persecution life was dangerous for Jesuit priests. Oldcorne was wrongly suspected of conspiracy  in the Gunpowder Plot, for he was a spiritual missioner, not committed to politics and was too busy carrying out his priest’s duties to take part in plots and violence. However, most of the men concerned in the Gunpowder Plot were his friends and he was their priest.

Old Hindlip Hall – replaced long ago by the building that is now West Mercia Police headquarters – was a warren of secret rooms and priest holes. This was where Oldcorne and Thomas Lister, another Jesuit, spent a lot of their time when it was necessary to go into hiding.

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It was Lyttleton of Hagley Hall who exposed the secrets of Hindlip and its cell of Jesuit priests when he was brought before the High Sheriff of Worcestershire Sir Henry Bromley charged with complicity with Winter of Huddington in the Gunpowder Plot.

By betraying the hiding paces of the priests he hoped to gain pardon for himself. Puritan Bromley appointed himself responsible for apprehending Oldcorne and his fellow Jesuits, especially Father Garnett, a senior priest whom Oldcorne had hidden at Hindlip. Bromley coveted Hindlip Hall and its lands, which were adjacent to his estate, so his assault was driven by greed.

Bromley searched Hindlip Hall with 200 men for eight days, but the old mansion would not give up  its secrets and no priests were found. He then put a hunger siege on the Hall, cutting off all food, and eventually two servants, who had only one apple to eat between them for three days, gave up the hiding places of Garnett and Oldcorne, who were concealed in a small space behind an elaborately painted ceiling.

Oldcorne was taken to the Tower of London and severely tortured, his limbs dislocated on the rack, before being brought back to Worcester and hanged at Redhill on April 17, 1606, protesting his innocence to the end.

His heart and intestines were cut out and thrown on a fire. They burned brightly for 16 days, right through a torrential rain storm, a sign which terrified those in authority.

Redhill, at the top of London Road, overlooks the Timberdine Avenue area of the city, where the school named after Edward Oldcorne now stands.

Four centuries after his death, here are some happier photographs of the  legacy of the Apostle of Worcestershire.