Gunpowder plot and Worcestershire

Guy Fawkes (second right) and the plotters

Worcestershire has close connections to the Gunpowder plot, and some of those involved were executed in Worcester.

Hindlip Hall, now the HQ of West Mercia Police, was searched for priest holes, where plotters or Jesuits might be hiding.

Two of the plotters, who had fled London, were shot dead by a Worcester marksman.

The High Sherriff of Worcestershire also had a key role in catching the plotters.

SIR RICHARD WALSH - THE TERMINATOR

Sir Richard Walsh, the High Sheriff of Worcestershire, had a major role in capturing or killing many of the principal Gunpowder plotters.

He was ably assisted by ace marksman John Streete, from Worcester, who took out two of the plotters with a single shot.

After Guy Fawkes had been caught, acting suspiciously under the Houses of Parliament with 35 barrels of gunpowder, many of the plotters fled to the Midlands, where Sir Richard set off in hot pursuit.

He caught up with them at Holbeache House in Staffordshire on November the 8th, and laid siege.

The plotters made things as easy for him as they could by making two elementary mistakes.

Firstly they got their gunpowder wet, and secondly they tried to dry it out in front of the fire - the powder did indeed dry out, and then it blew up.

Eventually Sir Richard and his men stormed the house and captured or killed these plotters:

• Robert Catesby - killed.
• Thomas Percy - killed by the same bullet as Catesby, fired by John Streete from Worcester. He was given a reward for his marksmanship.
• Christopher (Kit) Wright - killed.
• John (Jack) Wright - mortally wounded and died.
• Ambrose Rookwood - captured and later held at Worcester gaol.

HINDLIP HALL - THE HIDING PLACE

After the plot was discovered, Sir Henry Bromley was dispatched to Worcestershire to root out Jesuits thought to be involved.

At the time it was illegal to be a Catholic and those who wished to attend Mass had to find somewhere to hide priests.

When Sir Henry searched Hindlip Hall he found eleven priest holes.

Hiding inside were Father Henry Garnet and another Jesuit, Father Edward Oldcorne.

In another hide were Nicholas Owen, the Oxfordshire master builder of priest-holes, and a fellow Jesuit lay brother, Ralph Ashley.

HUNG DRAWN AND QUARTERED

Some of those accused of being involved in the gunpowder plot met their end in a very nasty way in Worcester.

They were hung, drawn and quartered at Red Hill in the city.

The people executed at Red Hill were:

• Humphrey Littleton - a prominent local landowner with catholic sympathies, who had been found guilty of harbouring traitors.
• John Wintour.
• Father Oldcorne - who'd been found hiding at Hindlip Hall.
• Ralph Ashley - also caught at Hindlip Hall.
• A tenant farmer called Perkes.

Hindlip's Gunpowder Plot secrets

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