Farnley Wood Plot

Date: 12th October, 1663

Major Plotters: Joshua Greathead and Captain Oates

Location: Primarily, Farnley, West Yorkshire, but also links to Gildersome, Morley, West Yorkshire and Leeds

Objective: To capture and overthrow the Royalist strongholds of Leeds city centre

Motive: Recent restoration of the monarchy

Outcome: Disbanded on 12th October. Twenty-six men were arrested, imprisoned and then hanged, drawn and quartered for being Traitors

Event

The Farnley Wood Plot is a colourful yet somewhat turbulent event in Leeds' history. Following the English Civil War, of which Yorkshire played an immense part, and the Restoration of the monarchy and government by Charles II, the son of executed and defeated king Charles I, there was still a rift and divide through the nation. Primarily, this was a political divide, but also the extent of the divide between Protestants and Catholics had continued. Although no more than 2% of the English population were Catholic in the 1660s, there was extensive fear of Catholicsm, due to the success of the Counter Reformation in Europe and the military successes of Louis XIV.

The religious settlement after the Restoration had reestablished the Church of England. Although the Church of England was thoroughly protestant, presbyterians and other dissenters were suspicious of what they interpreted as 'Popish' practices in the established church.

Charles II was at the very least sympathetic to Catholicism. He twice tried to issue Declarations of Indulgence to extend limited religious toleration to Catholics. He was married to a Catholic, Catherine of Braganza, and his mother, Henrietta Maria, was also a Catholic. His exile after the English Civil War was in Catholic France. Under the terms of the Secret Treaty of Dover, Charles II agreed to convert to Catholicism in return for French assistance, but he postponed this conversion until his death in 1685. Nevertheless, at times Catholics occupied important positions at Charles's court and a disproportionate number of aristocrats and the gentry were Catholics. There were also some prominent conversions to Catholicsm during Charles's reign, not least his brother James, Duke of York, the future James II.

The Plot was launched by two major characters, who are remembered as remarkable historical characters in West Riding's past. The first of these was Joshua Greathead, a local squire. He had fought in the Civil War for Oliver Cromwell's army, and in fact had led his own squadron. Local sources of the time, stated that he was a resident in Gildersome, one of the nearest villages to Farnley. Joshua was the joint organiser and leader, ever since the initial inception of the plot.

The second character was Captain Oates of Morley. Again, he was a well known character within the local area, and local sources state that he was in fact a major ringleader of the plot.

It is believed that the main objective of the plot was to storm the city of Leeds, and if in fact the plot had done so, then a battle would have undoubtedly occurred. However, we know that the plot failed.

On the morning of the 12th October, the group of around twenty six men had disbanded and the plot was deemed a failure. There are two main factors of why the plot was abandoned.

i) Firstly, it is believed that the group of men, mostly local farmers and businessmen, did not want to fight in battle.

ii) Secondly, there had been a disappointingly low turn-out, and determination was low.

The men disbanded and headed back to their villages. It should be noted that Farnley is located halfway between Leeds and the town of Morley, and was a perfect location for meeting. The village was, and still is, largely wooded and provided a unique opportunity for meeting in great numbers. A lot of the members came from Gildersome, such as Joshua Greathead, and others from Morley. They believed that their operations had gone undetected and that nobody of any form of authority would find out.

However, they were wrong. Previously, Joshua Greathead had mentioned problems with timescaling the Plot to make it more of a success, but found himself being overruled by Captain Oates and his band of men. Not allowing himself to become disillusioned, Joshua firstly made contact with authority, and from then on, every detail of every meeting was recorded back. Authorities did not make any immediate arrests or intervene in any method. Instead they allowed Greathead to play the part of a spy, and relay all necessary information. When the group disbanded on October 12th, Greathead alerted the authorities, who set in action the arrests of twenty-six people.

News of the Plot spread like wildfire, and it soon became apparent who had been involved. News reached London, where it provided a sinister reality check for the King and Royalists. Meanwhile those with Parliamentary favourings initially stated that the Plot was an exaggeration by Royalists, rubbishing the plot as to say that it were probably naive countrymen who appeared disgruntled.

Either way, the twenty-six arrested paid for their deeds. They were arrested and transported to York, where they were remanded in Clifford's tower. They were all executed for Treason.

The Escape and Leeds Execution

The men were taken to the assizes in York. The assizes at York were normally held so many times a year, and with the Plot behind held in October, the next time for trial was the Winter assizes. However, three of the arrested men (Robert Atkins, John Errington and Henry Wilson) did not wait to find out their verdict, and managed to escape from York. They made their way to Leeds.

Once in Leeds, they hid in an inn, but were finally arrested and taken into custody. On the 14th January, 1664, they were sentenced to death for treason. They were transported to Chapeltown Moor, where a gallows had been constructed. It is believed that this triple treason execution (involving the sentenced being hung, drawn and quartered) attracted one of the largest ever crowds within the city centre.

They were hung by chains, before being dissected. The executioner, a local joiner, of the name Peter Mason cut off the three heads, and over the course of the night, preserved them. The following day, they were stuck on the railings of Moot Hall.

It wasn't until 1677 that the skulls were blown down in a gale.

Guilty or Innocent?

Many historians have argued about the Plot, its origins, reasoning and motive, and many now regard the true nature of the Plot to be something of a legend.

At the time, many believed that the authority of Joshua Greathead would have made many naive people join the Plot willingly, unsure about the true nature of plot, of which became a reality later on. This would have contributed to the Plot being disbanded.

A piece of historical evidence, is a report which was written at the time (now in Standard English):

"Being instigated by the devil, did make use of one Joshua Greathead of Gildersome, as their instrument to seduce and draw several persons into a combination, and did craftily, subtly and maliciously seduce the same persons into a plot"

At the time a lot of the reports rubbished the ideas that the Plot was ever going to be something strong and effective, and that a lot of innocent people were manipulated by Joshua Greathead.

References

;Books
*Goor. Ken (2006). "Haunted Leeds", NPI Media Group, ISBN 0752440160
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;Articles
*Hopper, Andrew. [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=109637 The Farnley Wood Plot and the memory of the Civil Wars in Yorkshire] , The Historical Journal (2002), 45: 281-303 Cambridge University Press
*Staff, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/england/leeds/index.shtml Local Legends: The competing legends of Farnley Wood] , BBC