KS1 Music: Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot: 'Hundreds of years ago'

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1. Shadows in the night - 2. Hundreds of years ago - 3. Remember, remember

The song and other video content travels back in time to explore the 1605 plot to blow up the House of Lords.

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Song: Hundreds of years ago (vocal version)

Hundreds of years ago. Focus: Time passing; fire safety; musical scales; simple rhythm-patterns. Listen to how the backing track features instruments of the period - recorders, lute, crumhorn, harpsichord, harp and various brass instruments - to suggest the court of King James I.

Refer to the for more information about the song, including follow-up music activities based on it and suggestions for cross-curricular study.

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What happened during The Gunpowder Plot?

Robert Catesby's initial plan was to tunnel under the Houses of Parliament and place the gunpowder there. But the plotters discovered they could actually rent a chamber directly under the House of Lords - so a tunnel wasn't necessary.

On the night of 4 / 5 November 1605 Guy Fawkes was in the chamber. He was surrounded by 36 barrels of gunpowder and had only a few short hours to wait before King James I - and several leading members of the Protestant establishment - would arrive for the opening of a new session of parliament.

However, suspicion that a plot was imminent had been aroused by a letter, assumed to be written by one of the plotters: it was a warning to keep away from parliament on 5 November. Searches were made of the building and Fawkes was discovered before he could carry out the plan. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London.