The lantern Guy Fawkes planned to use to blow up parliament

Nov 08, 2024

A lantern believed to have been carried by Guy Fawkes on the night he was arrested is on display at a museum.

It can be seen at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford more than 400 years after the gunpowder plot was foiled on 5 November 1605.

Fawkes was arrested in the cellars under the Houses of Parliament as he planned to blow up King James I.

Museum director Xa Sturgis said the lantern would have "held the candle that was going to light the fuse, that was going to blow up Parliament."

He said: "There are lots of museums with items like this that claim to be Mary Antoinette's slipper or Queen Elizabeth's handkerchief - but this is almost certainly that lantern.

"We know because it came to Oxford such a long time ago. "

"It arrived in the collection at Oxford in 1641, it was given by the brother of the man who arrested Guy Fawkes under Parliament and so that's as good a provenance as you can get."

Mr Sturgis said it was "exciting" to have the lantern at the museum.

"It's a very particular lantern because it has a mechanism within it that allows you to shut off the light," he added.

"He could have been hiding down there with the flame of the candle concealed in the dark and so that's a lantern designed for such a conspiracy."

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.