Following the receipt of an anonymous letter addressed to William Parker, (Lord Monteagle), a search was made of the basement of the House of Lords on the evening of 4th November 1605. Parliament was due to reopen on November 5th, 1605, and Monteagle was due to be in attendance.
During the search 36 barrels of gun powder were discovered; enough to destroy the House completely, killing all those within. Found hiding in the basement, desperately looking to make his escape, was one Guy Fawkes who was immediately arrested.
‘The Gunpowder Plot’ was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The audacious plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. The plot might well have succeeded since Monteagle had received the letter two weeks earlier warning, or at least suggesting, that he should find an excuse not to attend the State opening. Although the letter was immediately handed over to parliamentary authorities no searches were carried out until the night before the opening.
Ten miles to the east of the Houses of Parliament in Barking, just north of the present A13, close to the Lodge Avenue flyover, lies Eastbury Manor House. It was there, legend has it, that the Gunpowder Plot was supposedly hatched. At the time Eastbury was owned by Anne Steward, widow of Clement Sisley the original builder. The house was rented to Lewis Tresham, and his wife, and his Spanish catholic mother-in-law also lived there. Lewis was the brother of Francis Tresham and cousin of Robert Catesby, the plotters’ leader. He was also the brother-in-law of Lord Monteagle, the man who had received the tip off.
Further evidence linking the Gunpowder conspiracy to Barking is that on 9th November 1605, just days after Guy Fawkes was arrested, a Barking fisherman named Richard Franklin was questioned by magistrate Sir Nicholas Coote at nearby Valence House in Dagenham.
Franklin alleged that his master, Henry Parish, had rented a boat to Guy Fawkes (who was using the alias Johnson) in which he and other plotters had travelled in disguise from Barking back and forth along the River Thames to France. Franklin also claimed that Guy Fawkes had arranged for the boat to be made ready for his escape once the deed had been done.
There seems to be some truth in the questioning of the Barking fisherman but how much of the actual Gunpowder plotting was done at Eastbury Manor House is open to speculation.
The legend was boosted just over 100 years later by the author Daniel Defoe. He wrote in his 1727 book A Tour Throughout the Whole Island of Great Britain: –
“A little beyond the town, on the road to Dagenham, stood a great house,
antient, and now almost fallen down, where tradition says the Gunpowder Treason Plot was at first contriv’d, and that all the first consultations about it were held there.”
Seventy years later the story persisted when another author Daniel Lysons, wrote in his book ‘Environs of London’: –
“There is a tradition relating to this house, either, as some say, that the
conspirators who concerted the Gunpowder Plot held their meetings there, or as others, that it was the residence of Lord Monteagle, when he received the letter which led to the discovery.”
Eastbury Manor House was built around 1573 during the reign of Elizabeth I. It was a farm in 1913 and at the outbreak of World War One the House was requisitioned by the Army. For a time, it was used as a factory for making observation balloons. After the war the House was purchased by the National Trust who leased it to Barking council. During World War Two it was a post for Air Raid Precaution (ARP) wardens and later it was home to a day nursery. The House was given Grade 1 listed status in 1954. With the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, it has undergone extensive renovation and today the house is open to the public.
As to the gunpowder plotting actually taking place in Barking, the mystery remains. What is certain though is that the 13 conspirators were apprehended and either killed during their arrest or drawn and quartered after trial and conviction.
BANG,BANG, BANG
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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Extracted from a new title coming soon
©The Parts of Essex, now in London
A short history
