Rye-house Plot
Preserved but no longer current.
A conspiracy in 1683 for the assassination of Charles II and his brother James on their way from Newmarket, hatched at the Rye House Farm, in Hertfordshire. As the house in which the king was lodging acci- dentally caught fire, the royal party left eight days sooner than they had intended, and the plot miscarried. Lord William Russell and Algernon Sidney were among those executed for complicity.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Rye-house Plot” mean?
A conspiracy in 1683 for the assassination of Charles II and his brother James on their way from Newmarket, hatched at the Rye House Farm, in Hertfordshire. As the house in which the king was lodging acci- dentally caught fire, the royal party left eight days sooner than they had intended, and the plot miscarried. Lord William Russell and Algernon Sidney were among those executed for complicity.
Is “Rye-house Plot” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.