A convert to Catholicism, William Marsden was born at Chipping, the son of a recusant yeoman named Richard Marsden. As a young man he went to France to be trained as a priest. After being ordained he set sail for England with another priest named Robert Anderton, who is thought to have come either from the Isle of Man or from Euxton Hall near Chorley. Whilst crossing the English Channel, a violent storm arose during which the two priests knelt and asked that they be saved so that they could suffer martyrdom. Their prayers were answered. On arriving at the Isle of Wight they were recognised almost immediately and sent to prison. At their trial the Anglican Bishop of Winchester taunted them with the “Pope Joan: myth and repeatedly mocked them for serving a woman in the Church. Anderton quickly replied that whether it was “Pope Joan” or Queen Elizabeth I, the Bishop approved of having a woman as “Head of the Church” and he was therefore in no position to criticise them on that account. Both were executed on the Isle of Wight on April 25th 1586.

Source: Edward Popham, The Martyrs of the Salford Diocese