5 December 1640: The execution by hanging for the crime of Sodomy of John Atherton  Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in the City of Dublin on this day. He was an Anglican Bishop of the Church of Ireland. An Englishman and the son of a Parson he had risen through the ranks and was appointed to the bishopric in the year our Lord 1636. During that decade he was a protégé of his fellow countryman Thomas Wentworth who King Charles I of England had appointed to be his Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Both were deeply involved in securing legal title to lands that they believed were rightfully Church and Crown property but whose claims had lapsed with the passage of years. Any success in these matters meant that Tithes & Revenue would flow into the coffers of both Establishments. Such grasping legal methods caused great resentment in Ireland and made them very unpopular with all brands of religious persuasions here. Atherton was thus a man with few friends in this Life or Country. This did not help him when he was faced with such serious charges as incest and sodomy.

His career as a clergyman in England would probably have continued there but though married & with children he was accused of having an affair with his wife’s sister & had to leave for Ireland to escape Scandal. After being here for some years in 1640 he was charged with a number of crimes of which the most serious was Sodomy - that is acts of Buggery with one John Childe his steward and tithe proctor. Both were found Guilty in Cork City and sentenced to death by hanging.

Buggery had not actually been a crime in Ireland but an infamous case of Sodomy in the English Courts revealed that the offence did not apply in this Country. Ironically Atherton was one of those who pressed for it to be made a crime here as well. He  pushed for the enactment of such Laws in Ireland too &  "An Act for the Punishment for the Vice Of Buggery" was passed in 1634, so he was very much instrumental in his own ultimate Downfall. 

 Atherton was transported to Dublin Castle to await his execution and placed in the cells there. The evening before his hanging he saw his wife and children for the last time and comforted them. He spent the night in prayer and in the early hours he believed that God had finally heard him and absolved him of his sins. Before he was taken away by the Sheriff of Dublin he said his goodbyes to his fellow prisoners and prayed with them. He was then bound  by the hands against his will and put in a coach to take him to his place of Execution. Crowds had thronged the route to see him pass but he was hidden behind curtains so it’s unlikely they caught anymore than a glimpse of him on his way through the streets of Dublin. 

The place he was taken to was called Gallows Green  - now long built over where lower Baggot St is situated. He showed both emotion and courage in his final journey and consoled himself that he would be with God that very day. At the foot of the scaffold he recited more prayers and addressed the crowd with some lamentations on both sides. With that done he said:

‘And now I have done ; only give me leave to say some private Prayers, wherein I shall desire you in your 'Thoughts to join me, in praying GOD to assist me at this Instant ; and kneeled for a little Space, as did the Company also : When he arose, he said cheerfully, Now I am ready, and took leave of them that were near him, taking them by the Hand, with the following Speeches, dread not Death, GOD send us a happy Meeting in Heaven, I am but going before you.

As the hangman put the rope around his neck he said Now I am ready, and from that, continued crying. Have Mercy, have Mercy till he was turned off.’

A RELATION OF THE PENITENT DEATH OF BISHOP ATHERTON By N. Barnard, Dean of Ardagh, at the command of the Primate of Ireland [James Ussher]