9 Hagley Hall Worcestershire
http://www.hagleyhall.comNot all of the gunpowder conspirators met their end with
Catesby. One leading plotter, Thomas Winter, was injured in
the melee and taken to London as a captive for questioning.
His brother Robert ran from Holbeche on the night of
7 November and then spent two months in hiding around
Worcestershire before he was apprehended at Hagley. He
too was hauled off to London to meet his fate.
Hagley has been in the hands of the Lyttelton family
since the mid-16th century. The current building was largely
constructed in the Georgian era under the auspices of George
Lyttelton, a one-time chancellor of the exchequer. It is a
splendid Palladian mansion, elegantly furnished and
complemented by landscaped gardens.8 Warwick C astle Warwickshire
http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk
News of Fawkes’s arrest spread quickly,
causing the flight of Catesby and the other
plotters away from London. Had their
scheme gone as planned, the
conspirators hoped to ignite a Catholic
uprising in the Midlands, with King
James’s nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth
as a potential new queen. Even though
Fawkes was in custody, Catesby resolved
to go ahead with his planned insurrection.
On the night of 5 November, Catesby
stopped off at Warwick Castle to stealhorses and then spent the next couple
of days with a dwindling group of
followers, seeking support for their cause.
Yet the Catholic hierarchy showed little
interest in the revolt. With their dreams
in tatters, Catesby’s men arrived at
Holbeche House in Staffordshire on
7 November where they resolved to
make their final stand.
This last hurrah began badly when
some excess gunpowder exploded while
it was being dried out near a fire, injuring
several of the group. Then, on the morning
of 8 November, 200 men led by the Sheriff
of Worcestershire arrived at Holbeche and
surrounded the house. Catesby and a fewothers charged outside to meet them and
were shot down. It is said that the same
bullet that killed Thomas Percy also went
through the body of Catesby. As the
leader of the plot was dying, he reportedly
staggered to the house’s chapel and
clutched an image of the Virgin Mary.
At the time that Catesby visited
Warwick Castle, the medieval fortress was
in a state of some disrepair. Over the
subsequent centuries, it underwent
several phases of intense restoration
including much recent work. Nowadays
the castle has repositioned itself as a
major heritage attraction boasting a
ghoulish dungeon and a princess tower.On 5 November 1605,
Catesby led his remaining
followers to Warwick CastleLeading plotter Thomas Winter was apprehended at HagleyDREAMSTIME, RICHARD ROGERSON