Bath’s new Roman Catholic Chapel was due to open on the 8th June 1780 but, just two days before, it was burned down by a mob in Bath’s ‘No Popery’ riots - an anti-Catholic movement started in London. The mob, led by John Butler, a servant from a house on the Royal Crescent, marched through the streets of Bath before arriving on Corn Street. Magistrates were alerted and came to read the Riot Act, with little effect. More than 300 Troopers from Devizes and Wells arrived late at night and were met with makeshift weapons and firebrands, and in the conflict a rioter was shot dead, leading the mob to set fire to the Chapel, as well as the adjoining priest’s house and several other neighbouring houses. By the morning only charred walls remained. John Butler was later hanged in Bath.