Ambrose Rookwood - Discovery

Discovery

The existence of the plot had been revealed in an anonymous letter delivered ten days earlier to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to keep away from Parliament. On the evening of 4 November the authorities made a search of the House of Lords, where they discovered one of the plotters, Guy Fawkes, guarding a hoard of explosives. He was immediately arrested.

Fawkes had posed as a servant of fellow plotter Thomas Percy, and it was therefore Percy's name that appeared on the first arrest warrant issued by the government. News of Fawkes's capture soon spread through London, prompting Christopher Wright (brother of John) to rush to Thomas Wintour, and tell what had happened. Wintour guessed that the government was looking for Percy, and told Wright to travel to Percy's lodgings and "bid him begone". While Wintour lingered, Christopher Wright and Percy left the city, followed by Keyes, and then Rookwood. A renowned horseman, Rookwood covered 30 miles in two hours on a single horse. Using various steeds he had left along the route, he passed Keyes at Highgate, and then Wright and Percy at Little Brickhill near Dunstable. He caught up with Catesby, who had left the previous day to prepare the uprising, and told him what had happened in London. The group, which now included Catesby, his servant Thomas Bates, both Wright brothers, Percy and Rookwood, rode on to Dunchurch.

While Fawkes was being tortured, on 6 November the government began to round up anyone they thought might be involved. Rookwood's servants, still in the house their master had so hastily departed, were questioned on the same day. His belongings at Clopton—including several incriminating Catholic symbols—were also taken, and by the time the plotters had reached Catesby's family home at Ashby St Ledgers, Rookwood's name was among the list of suspects drawn up by the Lord Chief Justice. The fugitives continued on to Dunchurch, where they met the recently-recruited conspirator Everard Digby, with his hunting party. The next day the group stole horses from Warwick Castle, although with his fine cortège, Rookwood avoided the town. They then collected stored weapons from Norbrook, and continued on to Huddington. The party tried in vain to expand their number, but were shunned; no one was prepared to risk being labelled a traitor. Father Garnet, contacted at Coughton Court by Bates, wrote Catesby a letter in which he implored the group to stop their "wicked actions", before himself fleeing.