November 2009
Prayers and Thanksgiving in relation to the Gunpowder Plot, 1605
Reference: PR 1515/1
This document is one of a series of special services and prayers produced for certain intentions and celebrations. They are part of the parish records of Coddington, a village east of Newark.
This example was produced in response to the Gunpowder plot of 1605, in which Guy Fawkes and other conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605 and assassinate King James I. The plot is remembered each year on Bonfire Night.
The service is 'for the happy deliverance of his Majesty, the Queen, Prince and States of Parliament, from the most traiterous [sic] and bloody intended massacre by Gunpowder the fifth of November 1605'. The prayers request that 'Kings and all that are in authority... may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all goodness and honesty'.
Other special prayers in Coddington's records relate to the battle of Culloden in 1746, the birth of a prince in 1762 and Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887.
See the document in more detail here [PDF 1549KB] 
Find out more about parish records here.
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