In 1648, a petition was presented to the mayor, &c., signed by 150 persons, praying for a more speedy and effectual reformation, and complaining that their faithful ministers were discouraged and slighted; the ejected ministers countenanced and preferred; old ceremonies, and the service book constantly used, and the directory for worship almost totally neglected; and further praying, that the ordinances against superstition and idolatry might be put in strict execution; “so, shall the crucifix on the cathedral gate be defaced, and another on the roof of the cathedral neere the west door in the inside, and one upon the free school, and the image of Christ on the parish house of St. George at Tombland be taken down, and many parish churches more decently made for the congregations to meet in.” The mayor, John Utting, paying little regard to this petition, was sent for to London, and Mr. Alderman Baret put in his place. After he was gone, the common people, having a great affection for the mayor, went to the committee house, then on the site of the present Bethel, where the gunpowder was kept, and set fire to ninety-five barrels, which killed and wounded about one hundred persons and greatly damaged the adjacent buildings. For this outrage six of the perpetrators were hanged in the Market Place. On January 30th, 1649, King Charles was beheaded at Whitehall. Soon after the death of the king the House of Commons published a decree to forbid the proclaiming of Charles Stuart, eldest son of the late king, or of any person whatsoever, on pain of high treason; and afterwards enacted that the kingly office should be abolished as unnecessary, burdensome, and dangerous; and that the state should be governed by the representatives of the people without king or lords, and under the form of a Commonwealth. In 1650, on discovery of an intended insurrection in Norfolk in favour of King Charles, which was to have broken out on October 7th, several of the conspirators were apprehended and tried at the new hall, in Norwich, before three judges, commissioned by the parliament for that purpose. Their sitting continued from December 20th to December 30th, and they condemned twenty-five persons, who were all executed, some of them at Norwich and others in different parts of Norfolk.