Along which road did many plotters flee after Fawkes was arrested?

Many plotters fled along Watling Street after Fawkes was arrested. The Roman road offered a major route northwest from London toward the Midlands, where the conspirators hoped to gather support for their failed rebellion.

When news of Fawkes’s capture spread on 5 November 1605, the plotters still in London quickly left the city. Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy travelled together, while Ambrose Rookwood followed. Rookwood reportedly covered about 30 miles in two hours on one horse and caught up with other conspirators on the same road.

The fugitives regrouped near Dunchurch, using horses supplied by Sir Everard Digby. Their plan was to raise a Catholic uprising and seize Princess Elizabeth, but almost nobody joined them. The group eventually reached Holbeche House in Staffordshire, where gunpowder was accidentally ignited while being dried.

Watling Street is sometimes confused with other famous Roman roads such as the Fosse Way or Ermine Street. Those roads were important routes, but the recorded escape route from London was Watling Street.