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The Babington Plot

Chartley, Staffordshire

Secret letters in beer barrels that sealed a queen's fate.

In 1586 Mary, Queen of Scots was held at Chartley Manor. Letters were smuggled to her inside beer barrels, as part of a plot led by Anthony Babington to free her and kill Elizabeth I.

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When
1586
Where
52.8500, -1.9700
Group
Plots

Visiting

The ruined Chartley Castle can be seen from the A518.

Cover of Guy Fawkes: Traitor or Faithful? by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Guy Fawkes: Traitor or Faithful?

This book asks one question and keeps asking it: was Guy Fawkes faithful, or a traitor? Most people think they already know. The answer has been handed down for four hundred years, with a bonfire and a rhyme, and it is rarely examined. From the boy from Stonegate in York to the cellar, the Tower and Westminster Hall, every chapter ends with a ledger of what it adds in his favour and what it adds against him. By the last page you may find that the answer you arrived with is not the one you leave with.

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