Dorset Martyrs Memorial

[1][2] The memorial takes the form of two martyrs facing an executioner figure placed in triangular formation, looking inward.

[3] This arrangement commemorates the Dorset men and women who suffered for their faith and, in particular, seven known Catholics who were executed where the memorial stands today.

[4] In the early 1980s, following funding received from the Art Council's Art for Public Places scheme, the Council of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, and the Catholic Community in Dorset, commissioned Elisabeth Frink to make a public sculpture for the site.

[5] Frink made the figures by first creating a skeleton out of chicken wire, and building onto it with wet plaster.

At the centre of the group is a circular bronze plaque, inscribed with raised lettering: ‘FOR / CHRIST / AND / CONSCIENCE / SAKE'.