The Gunpowder Plot: exploding the legend

  • Arup’s applied analysis techniques used to stage a gunpowder plot in which explosives were successfully detonated.
  • Spectacular reconstruction of the blowing up of the UK Houses of Parliament.

Arup’s blast and explosion analysis and advice provided a definite answer to a historical mystery – would Guy Fawkes have succeeded with the Gunpowder Plot?

Arup’s applied analysis techniques, designed to investigate modern-day terrorism, were used to reconstruct Guy Fawkes’ 1605 attempt to blow up the UK Houses of Parliament.

Guy Fawkes attempted to kill King James I and almost every influential person in the land. He was captured directly below Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder and a slow-burning fuse. Since then, historians have speculated about the results if Fawkes had not been prevented from setting off the gunpowder.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the plot, a television programme was commissioned to recreate the event.

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  • Explosion, still image from gunpowder plot simulation video.Play video

    Watch the spectacular effects of the simulation.

  • The explosion rips through the reconstructed Houses of Parliament. Credit ITV.Open gallery

    The force of the explosion had a devastating effect on the reconstructed Parliament buildings.