WEBLINKS
| |
•
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external websites.
|
 |  | The rhyme says remember - but how could we not? Bonfire Night - the 500-year-old tradition of lighting fires and setting off fireworks is indelibly etched into our minds and could never possibly "be forgot".
The tale of Guy Fawkes', and his contemporaries, attempts to blow the Houses of Parliament sky-high with barrels of gunpowder is a story well worn, but many re-tellings forget that the plot began right here in Warwickshire.
Coombe Abbey, a royal palace
| | Ìý |
The story begins, not with Mr Fawkes, but with John Harington - the then occupant of Coombe Abbey - who went out of his way to make friends with King James I after the death of Queen Elizabeth.
Such good friends did the now Lord Harington and the King become, that Coombe was chosen as the home of the young Princess Elizabeth and she was charged into the care of the new Baron.
As the princess grew up in the beautiful house and gardens at Coombe, she could not be aware of the unrest that was unfolding around the country as English Catholics - hoping that James I would be more understanding of their faith than Elizabeth I had been - began to realise they were nowhere nearer getting what they wanted.
Robert Catesby of Lapworth began to hatch an audacious plan to do away with the King and his sons, and kidnap the then heir to the throne Princess Elizabeth so she could be indoctrinated in the ways of the Catholic faith and re-introduce it to the country - the Gunpowder Plot.
ÌýGuy Fawkes comes on board
| | Ìý |
| Ìý |  | Coombe Abbey, where the roots of the plot lie
|
Catesby gathered a group of soldiers, gentlemen and believers to carry out the plot with him and one of them was Guy Fawkes, who had become renowned across Europe for his single-mindedness and excellent fighting skills.
Guy - known as Guido, a name he affected while in the Netherlands - was joined by Thomas and Robert Winter and Thomas's Percy and Wright - and the gang set about formulating a plan to blow up Parliament with gunpowder stored underneath it.
The gang leased a building near the Houses of Parliament, which belonged to Henry Ferrers of Baddesley Clinton and began digging a tunnel from the building to the House.
John Grant, lord of the manor of Northbrook, which included Clopton House, Stratford, was brought on board and he supplied weapons and arms to the cause - as well as being put in charge of the kidnap of Princess Elizabeth.
The plotters' luck had an extraordinary upsurge when the cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament went on the market and they moved in quickly - along with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
More meetings - with yet more members added to the gang - were taking place in the area, including at the Bull Inn in Coventry and the White Lion at Dunchurch.
Meanwhile in London, Guy Fawkes was in the cellar, guarding the disguised barrels of gunpowder and waiting for the nod to strike the match.
ÌýHung, drawn and quartered
| | Ìý |
However, the end to the plan was night when a letter was delivered to the King from Lord Mouteagle, who had received the anonymously-penned note warning him not to sit in Parliament on 5 November.
The conspirators still thought all was well - although the authorities knew exactly what was planned. Guy, who was hiding by the barrels which were disguised with faggots and coal, was discovered and pretended to be a coal merchant - and explanation that Fawkes thought had been accepted.
However, in the early hours of 5 November, the cellars were stormed and Guy "Guido" Fawkes was captured and imprisoned.
Catesby and the rest of the gang escaped - some, including Catesby - were caught at Holbeche House, Staffordshire, and killed and the rest were delivered to London for torture, trial and execution.
The conspirators and Guy Fawkes, famously, were hung, drawn and quartered at a public execution in St Paul's Churchyard. Reports of the event suggest that Fawkes was so weak through torture and illness, he struggled to make it up the ladder to the gallows.
|
