The History Society: The Gunpowder Plotters by Muriel Pilkington

Please note, this is a lunchtime meeting on a trial basis for the winter months. Door opens at 12.30 and a light lunch of soup and a roll will be served and the speaker will commence at 1.15 p.m.

To understand the full significance of the Gunpowder Plot, we look briefly for the lesser well known series of plots against the Protestant regime in England that were started more then 30 years previously and that culminated on 5 November, 1605. Similarly, we examine the motives of the thirteen desperate young gunpowder plotters, who knowingly risked death to try to achieve their goal and which were caused by nearly half a century of grievances. It is not always remembered that they intended the explosion in Westminster to be just the
first stage of a wider national revolution.

The impact of the plot has permeated the history of this country ever since. It’s anti-Catholic repercussions lasted for more than two centuries after 1605 and some effects are even now present in the British Constitution.