Gunpowder Plot – Ambrose Rookwood
29th October 2025 by | Uncategorized
The November wind will soon beat upon the house and the candle gutters low, its flame casting long fingers of shadow across the desk. Nights such as these bring back the memory of Ambrose Rookwood — young, loyal, and doomed.
Rookwood was born in 1578 to a wealthy recusant family in Norfolk. His devotion to the Catholic cause ran deep, as did his admiration for Robert Catesby. Though late to the conspiracy, he committed himself wholeheartedly once sworn in.
His particular contribution was practical but vital: he owned a stable of fine horses. When the plot collapsed after Guido Fawkes’s arrest, it was Rookwood’s mounts that carried the fleeing conspirators with desperate speed through the Midlands. He is said to have ridden from London to Dunchurch, over 80 miles, in a single day — a testament to both his determination and the strength of his horses.
At Holbeach House he stood beside Catesby and the others in their final stand. Unlike many, he survived the gunfight and was taken prisoner. At his trial in Westminster Hall, he confessed with sorrow yet without denial. In January 1606, he met his death by hanging, drawing, and quartering.
The past is never silent.