Terrorists Flee London – The Flight and Fate of The Other Gunpowder Plotters

Note for the reader – please consider reading the first two parts of this series first:

http://socyberty.com/holidays/the-capture-of-a-terrorist-guy-fawkes-and-the-gunpowder-plot/

http://socyberty.com/holidays/captured-terrorist-escapes-hanging-the-execution-of-guy-fawkes/

In the first part of this series I described the plot to blow up King James I of England at the opening of Parliament with barrels gunpowder hidden in a cellar under the House of Lords, and how the plot was uncovered and Guy Fawkes found with the gunpowder in the cellar.

When news of Guy Fawkes’ arrest got out, the other conspirators in London fled from the capital. The largest group headed for the Midlands and paused near Warwick. Some of them decided to steal horses from Warwick Castle stables and that unsurprisingly drew the authorities’ attention to the area. They then fled to Norwood where they were able to get some weapons, still believing an armed revolt might be possible, though they were getting almost no support from those they had believed would help them, most sympathisers being too afraid of being associated with treason.

The conspirators finally reached Holbeche House on the border of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, where they stopped to regroup again. They had been carrying some gunpowder with them but it had got wet in the rain and in an ill-advised attempt to dry it out they spread it out on the floor inside Holbeche House in front of a burning fire. A stray spark lit it, resulting in a sheet of flame which badly singed two of the conspirators (Catesby and Rookwood) and blinded a third (Grant). Five more became dispirited and left. But the remainder decided to stick with their injured colleagues and make a stand against the authorities.

On the morning of 8th November, a mere three days after the discovery of Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder under the House of Lords, this small group of plotters tried to see off the forces of the Sherriff of Worcester, numbering about 200 men. In an exchange of musketry, six of the plotters were hit and then the Sherriff’s men rushed the house, capturing four of them alive.

The remaining conspirators who had left the group or who had fled London separately were captured over the next few days. Eventually eight were tried in London with Guy Fawkes and sentenced to execution by a barbarous method involving being hung by the neck until choking, then being cut down to have their genitals sliced off and burned, then disembowelled before having their head and all four limbs hacked off. The aim of this last was to be able to send the severed limbs to cities across England where they would be displayed as a warning against treason. Even some conspirators who had died before the trial were not exempt and were dug out of their graves so that they could be quartered post mortem.