There was fun to be had at the recent firework extravaganza at Derbyshire Cricket Club’s annual do at Central Co-op County Ground on November 8.
But do you know the links the famous Gunpowder Plot has to the Midlands?
A very special gold ring appearing at this week’s historica sale, expected to make £8,000-£12,000, proves just that.
Most of the famous conspirators came from, or were related to, prominent Catholic families from the Midlands who, like them, were against the new king, James I.
Miles from the capital they were able to make their way from safe house to safe house, plotting the downfall of the Protestant monarchy who had long suppressed them.
Forget Goy Fawkes, who was just a hired hand with a talent for gunpowder, the plot’s mastermind was the charismatic Warwickshire-born Robert Catesby.
Catesby was born in Bushwood Hall, in Lapworth, near Henley-in-Arden in 1572.
Fast forward just over 450 years, and it was the same ground next to the family’s half-timbered moated building that was the site of a very special discovery.
Here it was, Andrew Rose, a metal detectorist from Birmingham unearthed a 16th-century gold ring close to the house in six inches of earth. Even more so when he scraped the dirt away to reveal an inscription reading Yovr Frende in Deede (Your Friend in Deed).
When he handed it over to the British Museum for authentication and dating, experts said they had never seen anything like it. The separation of the words ‘in’ and ‘deed’, gave it an altogether sinister twist. They suggest whoever gave the ring was prepared to prove his loyalty in actions rather than just words.
At the time these gold bands, known as posy rings, were given as gifts among male friends to symbolise affection, allegiance or support between allies.
At the time of the plot, Catesby was living at another of the family properties at Ashby St Ledgers on the Warwickshire/Northamptonshire border near Rugby.
But Bushwood Hall was the base for the other plotters, with Catesby using it to stockpile weapons and supplies.
It was also home to one of the key conspirators, John Wright, who had been at school with Guy Fawkes in York.
Had they succeeded in blowing up the Houses of Parliament on November 5, 1405, they planned to put our region at the heart of their ongoing rebellion.
They plotted to kidnap Princess Elizabeth, James I’s nine- year-old daughter from her household at Coombe Abbey, near Coventry.
Using her as a figurehead, they would rule the country and restore the rights of Catholics.
But the plotters were undone by an act of betrayal, likely from one of their number, who wrote an anonymous warning letter to one of the lords advising him to stay away.
Guy Fawkes was discovered hiding in a cellar on the eve of the attack with 36 barrels of gunpowder. The plan was for him to light slow fuses before leaving by boat and fleeing to the continent.
He was later sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
News of the failure quickly spread to the rest of the co-conspirators who were planning the next phase of the rebellion at the Old Lion in Dunchurch, near Rugby.
Sensing impending doom, some of the gang scattered but Catesby was determined to fight on.
On 6 November, Catesby and his still loyal plotters raided Warwick Castle taking cavalry horses to aid their escape.
They made it as far at Holbeche House in south Staffordshire where Catesby was killed alongside the Wright brothers on November 8, aged 33.
Could he, or another one of the conspirators, have owned that special ring?
Bushwood Hall, where he was born, is only accessible down a one-way road, meaning anything found near it likely pertained to one of its inhabitants.
Given the remoteness of its location, its link to Catesby and the other plotters, the date and inscription on the ring, it is tantalising to imagine it belonging to one of the plotters.
Imagine it glinting by firelight as they planned one of the most audacious attacks in UK history.
Auction Details
Auction: Derby November Historica, Coins, Banknotes & Tokens Auction
Auction date: 27th November 2025 | 9:30am
Location: Hansons’ Derbyshire Saleroom
Auction contact: [email protected]
Catalogue/bidding: www.hansonslive.co.uk | www.the-saleroom.com
