The martyrs were Quakers who were banished from the colony under a 1648 law. They were hanged for either refusing to leave or for returning. Since I posted the above, I have learned that there was an earlier law (1647) that applied to members of the Jesuit order, but not to Catholics in general. No Jesuits were actually executed under this law.
I have also found some references to people who were put in front of fires, and not burned, but “roasted.” It takes longer to die that way. Nasty business.
“Can’t we all just get along?”
Anglicans are sometimes excluded from the “Protestant” category. Sometimes they are included, it really depends on context. Oddly, Methodists usually are, despite being a CoE offshoot. And similar to as you note, the Wesleys didn’t intend to start their own religion.
Not really. The Cathars, for one, were accused of both, while a guy going around selling charms wasn’t preaching heresy. But from what I’ve read, e.g. even the Inquisition (bet you didn’t expect that!) tended to require a higher degree of evidence than Ye Olde Protestante Wychfinder General. For example, this guy.
I think Corporal_Nobbs is referring to the fact that although “Catholic” and “Protestant” make convenient, if not always 100% accurate, shorthands for "Nationalist/Republican"and “Unionist/Loyalist.” But the Troubles were never about religion. They weren’t fighting over transubstantiation or how to baptise, but that didn’t stop people using religious imagery in invective
Which states it happens on both sides and isn’t just anti-catholic… You also seemed to imply it happens across the UK. It happens in Scotland and NI where there is a strong sectarian divide. You may remember the troubles, whereby terrorists from both sides committed heinous crimes. Your quoted article also has data that is over 12 year out of date…
Probably depending upon whether there was a stake and fire involved 
Which is part explains why in the UK Methodists/Wesleyans are often referred to as “non-conformists”. The divide often being one of social class, where the lower classes would attend “Chapel” rather than “Church”. The manner in which the CoE was embedded in the social and power hierarchy of England is part of what makes it different to the other forms of protestantism. Wesley was in part protesting about the trappings and effect of just this.
More like claret and cucumber sandwiches.
Very true. But not at the same time.
Not necessarily, engravings sometimes do and sometimes do not but it’s imagery, not actual reality. For starters and as I said, other methods of execution were a lot more common but this particular one was so gross and unusual that it’s what stuck as the shorthand for all those other hangings (by the neck or by other parts), beheadings, quarterings, stakings, cagings…