In 1646, St. Mary’s Church, in the town of Battle, spent “2 shillings and 6 pence”—an average day’s wage for a skilled tradesman—on Guy Fawkes Night, marking the earliest record of such celebrations in Battle. Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, is a traditional British celebration that takes place annually on November 5. The night marks the thwarted Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which a group of Catholic conspirators planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament, and King James inside. Across the United Kingdom, one of the…
