The skull of a saint that was discovered during renovations
BBCOn 25 April 1641, Ambrose Barlow celebrated a secret Easter Sunday mass at Morleys Hall near Astley in Greater Manchester.
But, by the end of the service, the building had been surrounded by a 400-strong armed group led by a local vicar.
"King Charles I issued a decree stating that all Catholic priests must leave within a month...and if they didn't, they would face the consequences of treason," said the Right Reverend John Arnold, the Bishop of Salford.
King Charles I wanted to prove that he supported the Protestant faith while keeping his political enemies at bay as parliament were suspicious of his Catholic wife.
The congregation urged Ambrose Barlow to hide but Arnold said he refused and instead ordered the doors to be opened and surrendered peacefully.
"He didn't make any attempt to avoid arrest," said Arnold.
"He was really concerned for the safety of the people attending mass - about 150 of them."
Diocese of SalfordHe was taken to Lancaster Castle where he was imprisoned.
After four months, he was put on trial, charged with being a priest.
He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.
"On 10 September, which is now his feast day, he was hung, drawn, and quartered," said Arnold.
"And his skull was put on a pike as a demonstration to people that this is what happens if you are a Catholic."
It was a warning to all who refused to conform to the state religion.
Diocese of SalfordThe Catholic priest is the subject of a new episode of Hidden Manchester on BBC Sounds.
The skull of St Ambrose Barlow is a sacred relic, which is kept at Wardley Hall in Worsley on red velvet inside a locked, glass-fronted cabinet recessed into a wall on the main staircase.
Arnold said the skull was retrieved and brought to Wardley Hall, which has been the residence of the Bishop of Salford since 1930.
"At that stage Wardley Hall belonged to the Downes family who were the cousins to the Barlow family," said Arnold, who resides at Wardley Hall.
"Francis Downes placed the skull in a casket in the wall of the then chapel in Wardley Hall."
The skull was accidentally discovered by Matthew Moreton during renovation work in 1745.
Later forensic tests in the 20th century confirmed it was the skull of Ambrose Barlow.
On 25 October 1970, Pope Paul VI officially canonised 40 martyrs of England and Wales in a ceremony at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
This honoured Catholic men and women killed in the 16th and 17th centuries for their beliefs.
Ambrose Barlow became Saint Ambrose Barlow.
The skull of St Ambrose Barlow remains at Wardley Hall where private groups can see it by appointment.
Arnold said it was unusual to have such a relic in a private collection.
"It's rare for it to be in a private house, but Catholics have long had a tradition of relics, either pieces of a body of a saint or a possession of a saint," he said.
"It's a way people have found of coming closer to the reality of the holiness of the person."
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