Fawkes Cottage

Fawkes was the next cottage to receive its name, again named after a famous criminal with strong connections to York. Guy Fawkes was born in York on April 13th 1570 at Youngs Hotel, a place which can still be visited to this day. Fawkes was the only son of Edward Fawkes a Protestant and Edith Blake, a Catholic. When Guy was nine years old his father died and Guy's mother remarried a Catholic, thus Guy became Catholic also.

Guy attended St Peter's School in York where he met fellow students John and Christopher Wright, both of whom would be among the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot.

Fawkes is believed to have left England in 1593 for Flanders here he enlisted in the Spanish Army, and later travelled to live in Spain which was a country run under the strong Catholic leader Phillip I. In 1604 Guy Fawkes returned to England with the sole purpose to plot against James 1st who was a Protestant leader and unfair to the Catholic people of England which Guy felt strongly about. In May 1604, the leader of the Gunpowder Plot, Robert Catesby, held a secret meeting with five men to organise the murder of King James which was to take place when the new parliament was due to open in 1605. By March 1605 there were thirteen men organised to help with the plot and a storeroom was rented under the House of Lords which was filled with thirty-six barrels of gunpowder and hidden under firewood. On November the 5th 1605 The Houses of Parliament and surrounding buildings were searched, the Gunpowder was found and Guy Fawkes was captured. After being tortured and several of the other plotters were found, Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and quartered on January 31st 1606.