'The Romance of the Gunpowder Plot'

Bushwood Hall

Robert Catesby, the chief originator of the Gunpower Plot was born at Bushwood Hall in 1573 to prominent Catholic parents.

Disaffected with the establishment, Catesby took part in the Earl of Essex's doomed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I in 1601, for which he was imprisoned and fined. He was arrested again following the death of the queen.

Catesby made investigations into the possibility of Spain supporting an English Catholic rising. However, with Spain and England making peace, Catesby was convinced that change had to be made from within.

Grafton Manor

Grafton Manor was the seat of the Talbot family who became Earls of Shrewsbury. The estate was given to Sir Gilbert Talbot by King Henry VII after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and it remained in the family for 400 years.

At the time of the Gunpowder Plot it was the home of John Talbot, father-in-law to one of the leading conspirators, Robert Wintour.

On 3 November 1605 Robert and other conspirators spent the day at Grafton. While John Talbot was unaware of the plot, it was hoped that he would join the cause after King James and Parliament had been blown up. He angrily refused pleas for help.

Following the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, Grafton was searched for evidence.

Norbrook House

Norbrook was the home of conspirator John Grant. He was introduced to the plot in March 1605, together with Robert Wintour and Kit Wright. Grant was married to Dorothy, sister to co-conspirators Thomas and Robert Wintour.

Norbrook was accustomed to sheltering Catholic priests and one of several conspirator houses clustered in this part of the Midlands.

Grant stored weapons and gunpowder at his home. He was also responsible for acquiring horses for the conspirators, to be taken from the stables of nearby Warwick Castle.

This photograph shows the house that replaced Grant's Norbrook, which was probably demolished soon after the conspiracy had come to an end.

Coughton Court

Coughton Court was owned by Robert Catesby's uncle, Thomas Throckmorton. It was rented by Everard Digby, the thirteenth and last recruited Gunpowder Plot conspirator.

Digby was placed here to organise a gentleman's 'hunt', in fact a gathering of armed men who were to play an important part in the wider plot in the Midlands.

With its commanding views of the surrounding countryside, Coughton was designed with recusant occupants in mind. It is also thought to be one of the houses that the famed craftsman Nicholas Owen skillfully created hiding-places for priests and other Catholics.

Dunchurch

The Warwickshire village of Dunchurch was an important staging post between London and Holyhead, and Oxford and Leicester. It was chosen as a rendezvous point for the conspirators and their sympathisers.

It was also from here that members of Digby's 'hunt' were to travel to nearby Coombe Abbey to kidnap the king's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, if the plot was going to plan.

If her father and brothers were killed, Elizabeth was to be proclaimed queen, raised a Catholic under a Protector, and later married to a Catholic.

The Red Lion Inn

On 4 November 1605 conspirator Sir Everard Digby and his entourage installed themselves at The Red Lion Inn in Dunchurch. It was here that Robert Catesby, the leader of the plot, brought news from London that Guy Fawkes had been discovered beneath Parliament and the plot revealed.

However, a delusional Catesby claimed that the king was dead and that their cause was still worth fighting for. While some fled, Catesby, Digby and others left Dunchurch to raid Warwick Castle for horses, to collect weapons from Norbrook House, and to rally other Catholics to rebellion.

A desperate stand at Holbeche House

After raiding Warwick Castle, Catesby and his dwindling band of rebels rode for two days between the houses of local Catholic families, gathering arms, gunpowder and money.

On 7 November 1605 they arrived at Holbeche House, the home of Stephen Littlejohn, one of Catesby's sympathetic followers. Here, several of the band were injured by an explosion as they attempted to dry gunpowder.

The end was almost nigh as on the following morning the High Sheriff of Worcester, who had been in pursuit, surrounded Holbeche with two hundred armed men.

A short battle ensued. Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy were among the number of conspirators killed. Others, including Thomas Wintour and John Grant, were wounded and captured. The rebellion had come to a bloody end.