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Open 24 April to 26 September, 2010 a host of children's activities! |
Attractions...
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Guy Fawkes Painting Copyright 2007 by Phil Game www.philgame.com
The oil painting was done in 2007 for the Guy Fawkes Inn in York.
(Used with permission of the Artist.)
The Gunpowder Plot Exhibition:
Parliament & Treason 1605
Using archive materials, the exhibition unfolds for visitors the turbulent times and events leading up to this infamous assassination attempt on James I.
It was at the opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605 that Guy Fawkes and his fellow Catholic accomplices attempted to blow up James I, the first Stuart king of England, as well as members of both Houses of Parliament.
The seeds of discontent at the treatment of Catholics in England, which ultimately led to the Gunpowder Plot, were first sown in the reign of Henry VIII in the late 1520’s and the persecution continued until James VI of Scotland became James I of England. He was no more tolerant of their faith and so thirteen disaffected Catholics decided to throw the country into turmoil, out of which they hoped to gain a new monarch who would be sympathetic to their cause and return England to its Catholic past.
Having placed 36 barrels of gunpowder in the cellars directly below the House of Lords, Guy Fawkes was left to light the fuse. However, he was found by the guards and arrested and the conspirators were brought to trial. To the current day the story is remembered each November 5th when ‘Guys’ are burned in a celebration known as "Bonfire Night".
It is with thanks to the Parliamentary Archives that this exhibition produced for the 400th Anniversary of the plot, which was originally displayed in Westminster Hall, is now at the Royal Gunpowder Mills.
Further information: http://www.parliament.uk/gunpowderplot
Gunpowder production in Waltham Abbey
Documentary evidence shows that gunpowder was produced in the Waltham Abbey area from at least the 17th Century. Later the Royal Gunpowder Mills became the leading English producer. The Waltham Abbey Mills showed off their superiority at trials on Marlborough Downs in 1809/10. Powder from six private gunpowder suppliers, Faversham and Waltham Abbey was used to fire a shell from a naval mortar with Waltham Abbey’s going the furthest.
Today the Royal Gunpowder Mills has been described as probably the most important site in Europe for the story of the explosives industry and so it is appropriate that the Gunpowder Plot exhibition is housed in this an old gunpowder production building.
Takes approximately 30 mins
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Registered Charity No. 1062968 |  |