FOUR hundred years ago, Huddington Court, near Droitwich, was enveloped in a high state of excitement.

Its inhabitants, Robert Wyntour, his brother Thomas, and their half-brother John, were fervent Catholics. Since Mary I's reign 50 years before, their families had prayed for the Church to reject Protestantism and return to the old faith.

But the Wyntour brothers had given up on prayers, and now turned to violence instead.

Led by their cousin Robert Catesby, they had embarked on a daring plan to force England to embrace Catholicism - by blowing up the Houses of Parliament, James I, and all his Protestant ministers.

It was Thomas' job to employ the services of an explosives expert. The man he chose was a soldier called Guy Fawkes.

The finer details of the plan were honed at Robert Wyntour's grand Elizabethan manor house, which stands quietly in the countryside near Droitwich.

The plotters thought they were about to change the course of history, but it all went wrong for them. It is thought they had been betrayed and details of the Catholic plot leaked. On the evening of November 5 orders were given to search the rooms beneath the Houses of Parliament, and Guy Fawkes was caught red-handed as he laid the explosives down.

As news of the terrorist attempt began to spread across London, the other conspirators fled. They attempted to find safety with Worcestershire's Catholic families, many whom had joined the struggle against religious persecution but were wholly unaware of the conspiracy to blow up the King.

At Huddington Court they ate and had Mass together for the last time. They then left with the intention of reaching Lancashire, a Catholic stronghold, but made a fateful stop at Holbeach Hall, Kingswinford, in Staffordshire.

Surrounded by more than 200 armed men, led by the High Sheriff of Worcestershire, Sir Richard Walsh of Shelsby, they tried to fight their way out but the rebellion was doomed. Catesby and another conspirator Thomas Percy were killed.

Plotters, such as Robert and Thomas Wyntours, who did not die that day were horrifically tortured in the Tower of London. Like Guy Fawkes, they were then hanged, drawn and quartered.

A Jesuit priest caught up in the plot gave his name to a Worcester school, Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, in Timberdine Avenue, named after Father Edward Oldcorne, who was tortured in London before being executed at Redhill in Worcester.

Every November 5, the state's triumph over traitors and rebels has been marked by

communities lighting bonfires to celebrate peace.

See your guy on top of the bonfire

AS BONFIRE night draws near, children can remember, remember the part Worcestershire played in the infamous Gunpowder Plot, by taking part in our Design a Guy competition.

Schoolchildren all over the county are stuffing suits with straw and entering the competition which will see the best Guys sitting on top of Worcestershire's biggest bonfire during the Round Table's fireworks celebration at Pitchcroft racecourse.

It is also a chance to learn more about the links we have with the celebrated conspiracy of 1605. To enter our Guy competition all you need to do is fill out the coupon.

Winners receive £50 for themselves, a free family pass to the fireworks display on Pitchcroft, plus hundreds of pounds worth prizes for their school.