A CAMPAIGN to have a local priest declared a saint 400 years after he was executed is picking up pace.
The Blessed Nicholas Postgate was born in Egton Bridge in 1599. He was hung, drawn and quartered at York in 1679.
His crime was to be Catholic at a time when there was supposed to be a Papist plot against Charles II.
During his life Fr Postgate attended to the needs of Catholics across the North York Moors from Pickering to Guisborough and to the East coast at Scarborough.
He travelled around disguised as a gardener and lived in priest holes at country houses.

One of the few remaining relics from his ministry can be found at St Joseph's Church in Pickering – a portable slate altar where he used to take Mass.
Every year for the last 32 years an open air service has been held – alternatively in Egton Bridge and Ugthorpe – in honour of Fr Postgate.
The campaign to have him canonised started in the 1970s but it is now hoped pressure can be applied to Catholic authorities to speed up.
The open air service was begun by Papal Knight Bernard Connelly and he is at the forefront of the campaign.
He said: "I am strongly in favour of him being canonised. The dallying has gone on for too long."
It was due to Mr Connelly that Father Postgate was beatified - the first step on the road to sainthood - in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.
He now hopes to make a case for the canonisation of Fr Postgate to the Bishop of Middlesbrough, the Rt Rev John Crowley, at the open air service next month.
It takes place at Lawns Farm, Ugthorpe from 2pm on July 2 (2006). It will be led by the Bishop of Middlesbrough, the Abbot of Ampleforth and priests from the diocese.