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November 5th in 1605 was the day a group of Catholics in England led by Robert Catesby planned to blow up the English Houses of Parliament, along with the King and his son and all the parlimentarians and clergymen inside.

The intention was that the blowing up of Parliament would signal the start of a Catholic rebellion. The plot failed when one of the conspirators sent an anonymous letter to his brother-in-law in an attempt to warn the minority of Catholic members of parliament and to save them. The brother-in-law turned this letter over to the King and the plot was exposed.

The security forces were now on the alert for the plot and they tracked it down to a house across the road from Parliament which had a cellar that extended directly under it. Into this cellar the conspirators had packed 36 barrels of gunpowder each weighing 100 pounds.

THE ARREST OF GUY FAWKES
The Kings men pounced at midnight on November 4 as the plotters bomb-maker Guy Fawkes was about to light the eight hour fuse that was intended to detonate the gunpowder as the King officially opened the parliament the next day.

In the rounding- up process that followed several of the conspirators were killed.

Guy Fawkes was later hung, drawn and quartered along with the other surviving members of the plot.

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

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