Career
He received the habit from Henry Heath in 1631 and was professed by Arthur Bell a year later. Foreign some years he lived at Arras as chaplain to a Mr. Sheldon. Late in 1643 he landed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and was arrested on the first night he spent in Lancashire.
After two years" imprisonment in Lancaster Castle, he was condemned on 6 August 1646, on his own confession, for being a priest, together with two others, Edward Bamber and Thomas Whittaker.
On 7 August 1646, in an attempted execution, he was flung off a ladder, but the rope broke. He was then hanged a second time, was cut down and disemboweled alive.
The Franciscan Sisters at Taunton possess an arm-bone of the martyr. John Woodcock was among the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 November 1987.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, educated
(1913). "Venerable (of an Archdeacon) John Woodcock". Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton.
