THE NEXT DAY (MONDAY, 18TH NOVEMBER 1678)

Having been arrested at Llantarnam on Sunday, 17th November 1678, Fr David Lewis S J, had been taken to the home of the fanatical anti-Catholic Justice of the Peace, John Arnold. The priest spent the night at Arnold’s home, Llanvihangel Court, in a room guarded by two “strong men”.

The next morning, Monday, 18th November 1678, Fr Lewis arose at 7 o’clock. Arnold paid him a short visit in his room where the two exchanged a few civil words. When Fr Lewis had his breakfast, he came downstairs and found the Magistrate and several constables loading guns in the Great Hall. It would seem that Arnold was almost as puerile as he was bigoted for he possessed a repulsive effigy of the Pope. Arnold referred to this parody as “his baby” and, before leaving the house, he invited the priest to view it. Fr Lewis diplomatically declined.

The party now set out on the final leg of their journey to Monmouth Gaol. When Fr Lewis realised that an armed soldier was to lead his horse all the way to Monmouth, he asked to be spared this humiliation. The Magistrate agreed and it was promised that instead, a constable would ride behind him while the remainder of the armed guard walked on either side of him. Once again, John Arnold showed his duplicity. As soon as the party had set off, Arnold sent a message to the Chief Constable that the lead was to be replaced on the horse’s head and that the prisoner was to be closely watched! The Chief Constable turned out to be an unexpectedly sympathetic man who ignored the order.

At last, Monmouth was reached and Fr Lewis was incarcerated at the town’s gaol. A friend paid 14/ a week for Fr Lewis to have a good room with a fire, candle, bed and linen. That morning, Monday 18th November, John Arnold had assured Fr Lewis that he would not allow the gaoler to subject him to “any incivility or severity”. It must have been a sad moment and the shattering of all illusion regarding Arnold’s friendship for him, when the gaoler showed the priest a letter written that very day by Arnold. The letter, dated 18th November, ordered that a strict watch be kept on the prisoner who was guilty of high treason! Fr David Lewis was kept a close prisoner and his confinement was so strict that he never left his cell. However, the underkeeper allowed friends to visit him during the day. For almost two months Fr Lewis was a prisoner in Monmouth Gaol.

In January 1679, the new High Sheriff, James Herbert of Coldbrook, decided to move the County Gaol from Monmouth to Usk. On a cold and snowy 13th January 1679, our saintly priest, Fr David Lewis S J, was transferred to Usk Gaol on Bridge Street. Here, he would await his fate.

THE MOVE TO USK

In January 1679, the new High Sheriff, James Herbert of Coldbrook, decided to move the County Gaol from Monmouth, where Fr David Lewis was imprisoned, to Usk. On 13th January, Fr Lewis was taken to Usk by the Head Gaoler and the Under Sheriff. It was a terrible day for travel, snowing heavily and bitterly cold. The group stopped at an inn in Raglan to warm and refresh themselves. While there, Fr Lewis received some news which must have caused him great sadness. Fr Lewis wrote; “Whilst I was in Raglan, a messenger came to the door of the inn, desiring to speak with me on urgent business. A very good friend of mine, one Mr Ignatius alias Walter Price, lay dying about half a mile away. He had undergone much hardship from hunger and cold and lay dying. He desired to see me. But I was quite unable to perform the friendly duty, as I was under the actual custody of the officers. So I only sent him my true and best wishes for his soul’s happy passage out of this turbulent world to an eternity of rest.” Fr Price, S J, died the next day.

Usk Gaol, or Old Bridewell, was situated on Bridge Street. This site, 28 Bridge Street, was opened in the mid 1600s and served until Usk Prison was built about 1842.

When Fr Lewis was imprisoned at Usk, the gaol was crowded with Catholics. Among them was Jane Harris who had sheltered a priest and been betrayed by her butcher. Fr David Lewis would have known most of them and it must have been a comfort to them to have among them a well loved priest.

Fr Lewis was tried at the Spring Assizes in Monmouth on 28th March 1679. He was found guilty of being a Catholic priest and of saying Mass. This was considered High Treason and he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. In April he was summoned to London, along with Fr John Kemble, for interrogation about the fictional Popish Plot. No evidence could be found against him and he was sent back to Usk Gaol to await his execution.

On 27th August 1679, Fr David Lewis was taken from Usk Gaol and drawn on a hurdle to a place known as the Coniger where the sentence was to be carried out. The actual site of his martyrdom is believed to be where Porth-Y-Carn House stands today. After the execution, Fr David Lewis S J, who was known in the area by his alias, Mr Charles Baker, was buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s Priory Church. Every year on the Sunday nearest to 27th August, a pilgrimage takes place to the martyred priest’s grave.