THE site of the execution of a Roman Catholic saint and four other martyrs is to be remembered in a housing development.

Outline planning permission has been granted to builders Barratt for a residential development, a hotel and restaurant, on land alongside the University Hospital of North Durham, at Dryburn, Durham.

The site, off Southfield Way, opposite County Hall, is believed to have been where the gallows were mounted for public executions in late 16th Century Durham.

Among those executed at the site were Roman Catholic martyrs condemned to death for high treason.

They were charged for being ordained to the priesthood abroad and returning to this country to practise the faith in clandestine services during the Elizabethan period of religious persecution.

The martyrs included Edmund Duke, Richard Hill, Richard Holiday, or Halliday, and John Hogg, all captured on their arrival at South Shields from the English Mission in France.

They were hanged in May 1590, and their remains were buried in the churchyard, at Anglican St Oswald's in the city.

They were among 85 martyrs beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1987, the first stage to canonisation to sainthood.

Four years later, St John Boste was also hung, drawn and quartered at the site, after giving secret mass at the house of a Roman Catholic family in Waterhouses, west of Durham.

On hearing of the proposed development, to be called St Leonard's Garden, Roman Catholics in the area approached Durham City Council to point out the significance of the site.

A city council spokesman said: "When we spoke to local people about the proposals it was pointed out how important it was for Roman Catholics.

"Therefore we have agreed with the developer that there must be some form of recognition to those martyred there.

"It will be a visual, mutually agreed memorial to what happened there."

Hexham and Newcastle diocesan archivist Robin Gard welcomed the recognition, but said he did not feel naming streets after the martyrs would be appropriate.