Agnes Prest (died 15 August 1557) was a Cornish Protestant martyr from the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary. She was burned at the stake at Southernhay in Exeter in 1557.
According to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and the story of Exeter Protestant Martyrs she lived near Launceston, Cornwall, and was married to a Catholic husband. She left her husband over his Catholicism, and went to be a spinner but she later on returned to him and was arrested and indicted at the Launceston Assizes. She was then put in Launceston jail and then transferred to Exeter jail. In Exeter jail, she was brought before the Bishop of Exeter, Bishop Turberville. When questioned, she denied the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. She was then released for a month.
Whilst she was released, she is said to have met a Dutch stonemason in Exeter Cathedral who was repairing the statues of the saints beloved of the Catholics. According to Foxe, she said to him "What a madman art thou, to make them new noses, which within a few days shall all lose their heads". After that point she was returned to jail where she had many visitors, including Walter Raleigh's mother, Catherine Raleigh, who praised her for her "godly life."
She was then tried for heresy by the Mayor of Exeter, refused to recant her beliefs and was executed by being burnt to death on 15 August 1557.[1][2]