Did Lord Monteagle have a good reason to be in Yateley?

1. There is no evidence that Yateley had any connection with the Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes, but there is no reason to dismiss the connection of Lord Monteagle with Yateley.

2. The first mention of a link is early enough in the 18th century to be passed from father to son. For example the present owners know that Colonel Alexis C. Doxat, who won his Victoria Cross in the Boer War, was an owner of Monteagle House. This was past down by word of mouth yet the rest of Yateley is unaware of this fact. Although his main residence was at Kit's Croft, nearby in Eversley, we have no streets in Yateley or Eversley named after this national hero.

3. Researching the Monteagle connection has exercised many minds, notably the amateur istorian Sir Thomas Sturmy Cave, who was seventh in direct descent from William Cave I (d.1629), the first traceable owner of Monteagle House. Sir Thomas was the son of William Cave V, owner of the Hartley Wintney brewery, featured in the Society's 1997 exhibition Inns, Ale & Beerhouses in Yateley.

4. Sir Thomas Sturmy Cave came to the opinion that Lord Monteagle, having been locked up in the Tower of London for taking part in the Essex Rebellion, evidently thought it well to be out of sight after his release until the death of Queen Elizabeth. He was doubtless in hiding in this house at Yateley from 1601 to 1603.

5. Sir Thomas' conclusion poses several interesting questions:

• Why did Lord Monteagle choose Yateley?
• Did he have a special relationship with the then owner of Monteagle House?
• What was he doing in Yateley?

Was he:-

(a) hiding?

(b) spying for Robert Cecil?

(c) scheming for a successor to Elizabeth?

(d) planning a Spanish invasion?

(e) just looking after his friends' local estates since they were in the Tower?

There is evidence that he could have been involved in all five of these activities. Watch this space!

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