lost land for the relatively weak Protestant Church of Ireland during the 1630s. Unfortunately for Atherton, this alienated him from large landowners, who then allegedly used his sexuality to discredit him. The conspiracy has been alleged to have been led by a lawyer named Butler, over land in Killoges, near Waterfeld. Butler became insane after the execution, claiming to see Atherton at all time. English Puritan, Congregationalist and Independent activists, as well as English and Scottish Presbyterian activists, contemporaneously campaigned to abolish Episcopacy (bishops) within the embattled Church of England, Church of Scotland and Church of Ireland; notionally expediting the political interest in Atherton's downfall. Posthumous accusations of sexual wrongdoing also include allegations of "incest" with his sister-in-law, and infanticide of the resultant child, as well as zoophilia with cattle. However, these allegations began to be circulated several months after his death in an anonymous pamphlet, and may have been intended to further discredit the bishop's campaign to restore the finances of the Church of Ireland. Legends A legend had him linked to the Old Mother Leakey, a Somerset ghost accused of shipwrecking. Another legend describes the house of Butler, the lawyer who allegedly led the conspiracy against Atherton, as being haunted by the ghost of the bishop. See also List of people executed for homosexuality References Further reading 1598 births 1640 deaths 17th-century LGBT people Alumni of the University of Oxford Bishops of Waterford and Lismore (Church of Ireland) Executed people from Somerset LGBT Anglican clergy People executed by the Kingdom of Ireland by hanging People executed for sodomy