Lighted furze was pushed into his face when he refused to deny as heresy his action of nailing on the west door of Exeter Cathedral a message proclaiming the pope to be an Anti-Christ and rejecting his supremacy in religious affairs.

Two bronze sculpted relief panels by Harry Hems on the base of the obelisk depict Benet banging on the door of the Cathedral and Prest burning at the stake.

"To the glory of God & in honour of his faithful witnesses who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned for love to Christ and in vindication of the principles of the Protestant Reformation this monument was erected by public subscription AD 1909.

They being dead yet speak".According to Charles Worthy, in his History of the Suburbs of Exeter (1892), the iron ring which was placed around the victims' bodies and the chain which attached them to the stake were found in 1851 during rebuilding work on the almshouses.

[4] Occupying the apex, or easternmost part, of the triangular site is the Chapel of Saint Clarus, an English missionary martyred in about 894 near the River Epte in Normandy.

[5] The present building made from red Heavitree stone dates from a re-building of 1592 by Sir Robert Dennis (died 1592) of Holcombe Burnell, but it was built originally between 1418 and 1439 to serve as a chantry in which to pray for the souls of persons executed on this spot.

Sir Robert Dennis (1525–1592) of Holcombe Burnell and Bicton stated in his will dated 25 July 1592 and proved 22 September 1592, that he had "designed to set aside a plot of ground and to erect an alms-house and chapel for a certain number of poor people with weekly stipends and certain yearly commodities, as would appear in a devise signed and sealed by him".

A "peppercorn" chief rent of one penny per annum was payable by the Livery Dole Hospital to the lord of the manor of Heavitree.

On that spot since 1885 and still standing today is a Victorian memorial lamp post bearing the inscription: "Charles George Gordon, 26th January 1885".