Remember, Remember the Fifth of November...

4.31.00pm GMT Sat 5th Nov 2005

Today marks the 400th Anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. It wasn't until this week I realised what role the West Midlands played in the plot, for those that do not know I have summarised it below. Although society has changed a lot in 400 years the official discrimination against Catholics remain, it is still true that a Catholic cannot hold high office in this country including becoming Prime Minister - something that surely needs changing along with many other pieces of anti-Catholic legislation.

The Gunpowder Plot was a Catholic conspiracy to overthrow the Government and restore Catholicism as the country's religion and Catholics as the leaders. There were 13 conspirators, led not by Guy Fawkes but Robert Catesby. Now everyone knows that the plot did not work but it was betrayed and in the early hours of 5 November 1605 Guy Fawkes was found under the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder.

Fawkes eventually, under torture, gave up the names of some of the fellow conspirators - including the main conspirators - Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Thomas Wintour and John Wright. Some of the conspirators had fled to Holbeache House in Wall Heath. On the morning of 8 November the house was surrounded by the Sheriff of Worcester and his men, four including Catesby, Percy and Wright were killed and remainder arrested.

Many local people were also arrested and charged with sheltering the conspirators. At least two - Thomas Smart and John Holyhead were tried and executed in Wolverhampton in January 1606, before the actual conspirators were executed in London!