SOURCES FOR THE YATELEY GUNPOWDER PLOT MYTH
1. Gentleman's Magazine of 1797 is the earliest published source for Yateley's connection with Lord Monteagle:
A farm-house in this tithing of Yateley is said to have been in former times the residence of Lord Monteagle: but of this there is no internal evidence. It is a simple old building standing upon a hill with a good prospect.
2. The History of Yateley, edited about 1974 by Sydney Loader from a scrapbook kept by G. H. Stilwell until his death in 1927 states:
The farm house at Mount Eagle was, one of Lord Montegles country residences, and derives its name from him, as it is not recorded under this previous to his occupation of it. It was Lord Montegle who warned the government of the Gunpowder Plot in 1604 after an anonymous letter had been received warning him not to attend the opening of Parliament, which it informed him was to receive a terrible blow. This letter was written either by his sister-in-law, Mrs. Vaux, or by his, cousin, Francis Tresham, a wealthy Roman Catholic, who afterwards died while imprisoned in the Tower. Lord Montegle, who was also a Roman Catholic, was strongly suspected of being implicated in the plot, and was therefore unrewarded for his services.
Much of this is plainly wrong and the remainder is conjecture: the anonymous letter was received in Oct 1605; Mrs Vaux was not his sister-in-law, in fact Anne Vaux was not even married; Francis Tresham was not his cousin but the brother of his wife Elizabeth; Francis Tresham was not wealthy, his father had just died, on 30 Sep 1605, leaving him debts of £11,495.16s.1d, most of which Francis was obliged to pay despite the fact that he already had his own debts; Monteagle was not in 1605 a Catholic -- he had become a Protestant after the accession of James I and hence became eligible to be summoned to the House of Lords; Monteagle was not unrewarded, he was given Crown farms and a pension. Stilwell's statements concerning the authorship of the anonymous letter is total conjecture: it is still
one of the great mysteries of English history. It is also conjecture to state that Monteagle House was one of his country residences -- no-one has ever proved this and no documentary evidence has ever been found.
3. Camberley News article dated 9 Nov 1928 is most probably the prime 20th century source for the Gunpowder Plot myth:
Had it not been for the loyalty and promptitude of a resident of Yateley, who had been accused by Queen Elizabeth of high treason in 1600. James I, King of England, son of the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots would not have died as he did - peacefully, although somewhat suddenly, in his bed - but would undoubtedly have been a victim of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which is commemorated every 5th of November - a day regarded by children throughout the Empire as fireworks day.
It is surprising how few inhabitants of the district are aware of this association of Yateley with the plot, which several historians refer to as mere tradition, but which has, without doubt, been established as a fact.
The newspaper article does not give any indication as to the historical sources for the alleged established facts, and appears to be a series of over-enthusiastic, and somewhat confused, misquotations from the research of Sir Thomas Sturmy Cave.
4. LOCAL TRADITIONS: There are thus no published sources linking Monteagle House directly to either the Gunpowder Plot or Guy Fawkes. There are only speculative links to Lord Monteagle based on local traditions which, having originated in the early 1700s, are reasonably likely to have some basis in truth. At the time of the Gunpowder Plot Monteagle House was named Brickhills. It had acquired the name Mounteagle by the mid 1700s. when it was evolving from a gentleman's residence to a 70 acre farm later called Monteagle Farm. It only acquired the name Monteagle House after the farmland was sold. Current local conviction that Monteagle House is linked to the Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes may well have been reinforced by the naming of the estate roads in Monteagle Park after plotters, priests and places associated with the Plot.
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